MEDC Rivers and Flooding

1. MEDC Rivers and Flooding Case Study – The Rhine 1994/1995 complete all of your answers in your learning pack

2. Learning Targets • To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995 • To identify the impacts of flooding in the Rhine in 1995 • To identify flood prevention techniques • To complete a case study on the Rhine to answer a GCSE question

3. Where is the Rhine? • Find 2 maps and mark on: • The River Rhine from source to mouth • Major seas surrounding Europe • The countries the Rhine runs through • The 2 tropics • The equator • The UK Learning Target - To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995

4. Learning Target - To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995

5. Causes of the flood • The previous lessons on river basins and the hydrological cycle, including the key terms learnt will be very important in this case - study. • What caused the flooding? • Watch the following video clip to examine the causes. Learning Target - To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995

6. Quick Questions • Who predicted the flood was going to occur? • On what date did he predict it would start? • How many people were evacuated before the flood started? • Where is the source of the River Rhine? • What was the weather in Switzerland like? • What was the name of the River (splits from the Rhine) in the Netherlands that was affected? • What happened to the meanders from Rotterdam to Central Europe? • What town did _______ fear would be lost? • What was created to try and prevent this? • What problems did these cause? • When was the threat announced over? Learning Target - To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995

7. Causes of Rhine Flood 1995 • Those were the causes of the flood in the Netherlands – a huge disaster was avoided due to some preparation. • This next clip shows how the floods occurred in other parts of the Rhine – Germany, 1994. Learning Target - To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995

8. Video Clip – the Impact of Engineering works on the Rhine • Quick Questions • What was the main cause that put Germany ‘under water’? • What had happened to the river that left no obvious escape route? • What year did the ecological flooding start? • What effects did this have? Learning Target - To identify the causes of flooding in the Rhine in 1995

9. Video clip – the Rhine Flood in Germany • Questions • Which countries were said to be affected in the ‘worst flood of the century’? • Name 3 impacts from the video clip of the flood. • Complete the Causes (Human and Natural) sheet of the flood.

10. The Impacts of the flood We have already seen some of the impacts from the video clips. Study the following images. BACHARACH, GERMANY Overhead view, crops affected by Rhine

12. Story from a local in Cologne • This picture is from the Rhine flood in the beginning of the year 1995. You see the "Pegel" of Cologne, that shows how high the water level is. The short hand shows the meters, and the long hand shows with each scale 10 centimetres. So on the picture you see a water level of 10.68 meters (that is 35 feet). With this height many parts of the historic centre of Cologne are inundated, also dwelling-houses in the south of Cologne.

13. Facts about the Impacts • IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER SOME OF THESE FACTS.

14. GCSE Bitesize – Prevention of flood in the Rhine There are ways in which this flood could have been prevented, or at least damage minimised. We saw some of these in the video on the Netherlands. The following video shows some prevention techniques in relation to the Rhine flood. • Questions • What was the basis of the flood prevention plan? • What were they trying to recreate? • What was the name of the first place to be tested? • How has this worked?

15. Summary of flood prevention • Some of the approaches to flood prevention actually contributed to the 1995 floods by moving water rapidly downstream to the Netherlands. • 4 main methods of prevention have followed the floods: • Behavioural – In Well (Netherlands), furniture was moved upstairs, 50,000 people evacuated. • Embankments (Dykes) – enabling the river to hold more water. Since 1995 the Dutch have built 600km of dykes. Has led to some houses being demolished but designed to withstand floods for next 1200 years! • Retention Basins – In Strasbourg – overflow basin built to divert some of the Rhine’s water. This reduces flow in the Rhine for 10 to 12 hours. • Artificial Floodplains – The Netherlands is very densely populated. Instead of using a retention basin, they have built dykes back from the river and created forelands, giving the river more space.

16. Key Issue • One major problem with prevention of flooding in the Rhine is the different countries it passes through – not all are prepared to help their neighbours at a cost to their own countries. • Remember that humans can only reduce the hazard to a degree – nature mostly controls flooding.

17. Video Clip – Bitesize – Summary and exam question Case-Study • Generally excellent – good split of human and natural causes • Be more place-specific – e,g, the town of Ochten was severely threatened by the River Waal, a tributary of the Rhine. • Always relate issues to the Rhine e.g. people writing about general flood prevention – you must give examples; a good one to remember is ecological flooding – specific to the Rhine.

18. Exam Question Marking • Level 1 (1-4) – Expect to name the river, location and give 1 cause and 1 effect • Level 2 (5-7) – Expect to name 2 causes and 2 effects in some detail • Level 3 (8-10) – A comprehensive answer with at least 3 causes and 3 effects. Specific examples should be used.

19. Key Points • Not enough on location, which countries does the Rhine flow through? – put as an introduction. • Be more specific e.g. Parliament was threatened – which one? • ‘Some people had to be evacuated’ – How Many? Where? • Don’t write in note form, proper sentences – good idea to plan first • Always mention the year • Be specific to the question – e.g. it didn’t mention flood prevention – so don’t! • Use more geographic terms – always relate back to the Hydrological Cycle (run-off, infiltration etc.)