Local perception of infrequent, extreme upland flash flooding: prisoners of experience?

Hopkins, J.; Warburton, J.

doi:10.1111/disa.12120

Local perception of infrequent, extreme upland flash flooding: prisoners of experience?

Hopkins, J.; Warburton, J.

Authors

J. Hopkins

Professor Jeff Warburton jeff.warburton@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

The United Kingdom has experienced several exceptional summer flash floods in recent years and there is growing concern about the frequency of such events and the preparedness of the population. This paper uses a case study of the upper Ryedale flash flood (2005) and questionnaire and interview data to assess local perceptions of upland flash flooding. Experience of a major flash flood may not be associated with increased flood risk perception. Despite local residents’ awareness of a trend towards wetter summers and more frequent heavy rainfall, the poor maintenance of rivers was more frequently thought to be a more significant factor influencing local flood risk than climate change. Such findings have important implications for the potential success of contemporary national flood policies, which have put greater emphasis on public responsibility for responding to flooding. This study recommends, therefore, the use of fresh participatory approaches to redistribute and raise awareness of locally-held flood knowledge.

Citation

Hopkins, J., & Warburton, J. (2015). Local perception of infrequent, extreme upland flash flooding: prisoners of experience?. Disasters, 39(3), 546-569. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12120

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jul 1, 2015
Deposit Date	Nov 17, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Nov 17, 2015
Journal	Disasters
Print ISSN	0361-3666
Electronic ISSN	1467-7717
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	3
Pages	546-569
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12120
Keywords	Flash flood, Flood risk management, Hazard perception, Heavy rainfall, Upper Ryedale flash flood, Uplands.

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Copyright Statement
© 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.