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Topic 4

Increasing Risks of River Flooding

Learning Objectives	Grade
To describe the risks from river flooding
To explain the threats from flooding to people and the environment.
To apply this knowledge to and exam question.
Literacy Focus = use of connectives e.g. ‘because’, ‘therefore’

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Increasing Risks of River Flooding�Bullet point the causes of increasing risk from river flooding:�

Climate Change

Extreme Weather

Urbanisation

Development on flood plains

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During the video�Bullet point information from the video below

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The risk of flooding is increasing in the UK...

Copy the table below into your books/google docs.

Sort the statements (on the next slide) into the correct part of your table, to describe the reasons (increased storm frequency & land use change) why there is an increasing risk of flooding from rivers in the UK

Explain in detail how increased storm frequency & land use change is increasing the risk of river flooding in the UK (6)

CHALLENGE

Answer the exam question below:

Explain two ways in which climate influences sediment load.

Extension: Explain what is meant by the term ‘antecedent conditions’.

Criteria:

Use a variety of key words
Use facts and statistics
Use connectives to extend your answers e.g. ‘because’, ‘therefore’
Include examples

Increased storm frequency	Land use change

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The frequency of storms in the UK is increasing - this could be because of climate change.	As the UK population grows, there's more pressure to expand urban areas. This leads to an increase in impermeable areas, causing rapid surface runoff.
Lots of development e.g. house building, is taking place on flood plains. These areas are naturally prone to flooding and this increases the risk of flooding to developed areas.	Storms are becoming more extreme - more intense rainfall is increasing the scale of flood events.
More people living on flood plains mean that there are more people at risk of flooding if flood defences fail.	Removing vegetation and permeable surfaces means that water would have been stored in the soil or plants and trees now flows quickly downstream.
More periods of wet weather mean that the ground is saturated, making flooding more likely.	Explain in detail how increased storm frequency & land use change is increasing the risk of river flooding in the UK

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Flooding threatens people and the environment….

Read the information below and create a spider diagram, with diagrams, to explain how flooding can threaten people and the environments.
On your spider diagram, rank each threat (10 in total) in order of significance.

Challenge

Explain in detail how increased storm frequency & land use change is increasing the risk of river flooding in the UK

Flooding threatens people and the environment

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Explain in detail how increased storm frequency & land use change is increasing the risk of river flooding in the UK (6)

Example point - More periods of wet weather mean that the ground gets saturated increasing the risk of flooding, as the ground cannot hold anymore water so it runs as surface runoff to the river faster. For example the river eden flood in 2005 was exacerbated by the fact the climate there is very wet and mild meaning the ground was already saturated.
X2 more points for 6 marks.

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Exam Question:

Assess the extent to which increasing flood risk from rivers in the UK is threatening people and the environment. (8)

4 Double developed points - use connectives
Structure! - Intro and conclusion!
Use specific geographic knowledge (HINT: knowledge from this lesson) - River Eden