Three ways humans can increase the risk of flooding in rural areas are:

• Deforestation
• Intensive farming, leaving fields bare in the winter
• Overgrazing
• Increased use of polytunnels

Find out more about human and physical causes of flooding.

Characteristics of a flood plain include:

• A large area of flat land either side of a river
• layers of alluvium cover the flood plain
• a river bluff along the edge of a flood plain
• meander scars
• levees
• rich, fertile soil
• reeds and marsh plants

Find out more about landforms in the lower course of the river.

Social:

• Safer from flooding due to the increased carrying capacity of the river so the risk of flooding to nearby settlements is reduced.
• Embankments are often used for walking routes which makes the embankment a more attractive walkway for local people.

Economic:

• Cheap compared to other methods of hard engineering

Environmental:

• Habitats are provided for riverbank animals such as otters, voles and kingfishers

Find out more about hard engineering.

Lateral erosion erodes the banks of the river. This is more common in the middle and lower courses of a river.

Find out more about river erosion.

Hard engineering involves the use of heavy machinery to build artificial structures which work against nature to reduce flood risk.

Find out more about hard engineering.