Boscastle and Thailan Floods

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Compare the causes of two contrasting floods. (Boscastle and Thailand) I am going to compare the physical and human flooding causes for an MEDC; the UK and an LEDC; Thailand. The Boscastle Floods, in Cornwall occurred on August 16th 2004. Between July and December of 2011, Thailand also suffered large amounts of flooding. There were a number of physical factors causing the Boscastle floods. The village suffered from heavy rainfall. Over 2 hours, 0.05mm of rainfall fell per minute. In total, over 3 million tonnes of water was added to the small drainage basin, in which two weeks of previous rainfall had saturated the ground, which it simply couldn’t hold. Both Boscastle and Thailand were at the foot of steep slopes. Steep slopes mean that rainwater will run straight off the surface. Deforestation is also a major factor in this. Ten years ago Thailand was a home to many natural vegetation and forests. However due to illegal logging and the government’s agricultural policy, it had resulted in the loss of many forests. Without these forests there will be no vegetation to intercept the rainwater. Besides that since Thailand is geographically sloped at angle without trees to secure the soil together, it will increase the chances of soil erosion so the soil and mud will be washed into rivers causing them to be shallower. Furthermore the bare slopes that remained will result in increased surface runoff. Similarly in Boscastle, farming in upper course had led to deforestation and removal of hedgerows decreasing the amount of interception from higher ground. Also most of the land and hills were made up of impermeable slate and clay soil which decreased the capacity of water that the ground is able to absorb. Additionally, in both these places, there were converging rivers. In Boscastle there were three; the Valency, Jordan and Paradise. Similarly in Thailand, large

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