Investigating public understanding of severe flash flooding

This project researched the levels of understanding among the general public about flash flood in order to help develop the right warnings and responses.

Documents

Public understanding and response to severe flash flooding - technical report (1.9 MB) PDF

Public understanding of and response to severe flash flooding - literature review (2 MB) PDF

Public understanding of and response to severe flash flooding_literature review - summary (117 KB) PDF

Public understanding of and response to severe flash flooding - summary (124 KB) PDF

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Details

This project explored how the public understand and respond to flash flooding, such as the events in Boscastle in 2004 and Helmsley in 2005.

In flash flooding, there‘s a very short time between rain falling and the flood, which makes preparing for flash floods very difficult. Flash floods can be very dangerous, involving a sudden rise in water levels and a large volume of water moving very fast.

At the time this project was carried out there was no national warning system in place for flash floods. However, climate change could mean that they’re likely to happen more often in years to come.

Outcome

The report used a literature review as well as interviews and focus groups with members of the public and professional bodies to understand what the public currently understands about flash flooding. This will be used to develop the right warnings and responses, and find out if there’s a need to raise awareness of the risk.

The project started in 2007 and was completed in 2009.

Updates to this page

Published 18 February 2021