Floods

The teaching notes below are split into three sections. The first suggests inviting initial impressions from students. The second sets out some of the factual background, enabling students to see the picture in context and add to or revise their first impressions. The third paragraph extends the potential discussion areas more widely.

Teachers can follow this pattern, using the natural progression to structure the session. Or they might select and expand on any one of the three areas. For instance, students might be set a piece of creative imaginative work based on their initial impressions. Or, for a very different approach, the focus or background section could be the starting point for more in-depth exploration of some aspect of current affairs or citizenship.

Download a powerpoint of the photo.

Floods in Yorkshire, photographed by Leigh Gummer

Snapshots

Why are these people wading through water under a bridge? Why are they holding onto the metal fence? Talk about what sequence of events and decisions might have led them there. What might their mood be? What are they hoping for? How risky do students think their actions are?

Examine the detail and ask students to say as much as they can factually about the picture. How deep does the water seem to be? Does it vary? Is it fast moving? Is it still raining? Are those pictured with their back to the camera, men or women, young or old? What do they think the object towards the left in the mid-foreground is? What does its presence say about the situation?

Focus

The picture was taken during the period of heavy rainfall that led to severe flooding in northern England and the midlands in 2007. It was one of hundreds of photographs taken by members of the public and sent to the BBC news website. It shows flooding around the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham and a group of unidentified women wading through a flooded road under a bridge.

The storms happened so quickly that people were left stranded – at work or school – as public transport stopped and roads were impassable. Walking home was the option chosen by many, including one 14-year-old school student who died after being swept away by flooded river as he tried to pass through a park on his three-mile walk home.

People were evacuated from their homes – the environment minister told the House of Commons that some 1,400 people had been provided with emergency shelters and other temporary accommodation. Insurance companies say 8,600 claims for flood damage were made on one day alone, with 27,000 homes and 5,000 businesses having been hit. Discuss this upheaval in people's lives. What do they need to help cope with it?

Developments

Discuss students' own experiences of floods or of fast moving water. Talk about the power of water in flooded roads. If the force can wash away cars and bigger vehicles, (and waste bins, as in the photograph), how safe would people be in wading through it?

Talk about assessing the depth of water. Unlike a swimming pool, where the pool floor has a steady slope, surfaces like roads have unpredictable rises and depths. A ditch by the side of the road would not be visible, but could increase the water depth dramatically. Note how, in the photograph, the water seems deeper directly under the bridge. Is this what students would expect?

Being washed away is not the only danger. Floods bring material out of the drains and sewage system, including all kinds of rubbish and vermin such as rats. What would students do if they saw human faeces floating in flood water? Would it discourage them from wading through it? What if they cannot see it but suspect it is there? What would they do after walking through the water?

Talk about other alternatives – from getting to high ground and safety, taking a long way round, staying where they are, waiting to be rescued. Discuss all the options and list pros and cons of each. How would students make their decision about what to do? Are there any safe ways of getting through the water?

Discuss floods elsewhere in the world – from New Orleans to less well publicised events such as the floods in Pakistan following a cyclone earlier this week. How are experiences different, how are they the same?

Hurricane Katrina lesson plan

The decision of one New Orleans man – whether to abandon his home or not during the floods following Hurricane Katrina – is explored in the Stay or Go? lesson plan.

News think! is one of a number of free educational services produced by the British Red Cross. You can find more resources at www.redcross.org.uk/education

Have you used these topics to raise discussions or plan classroom work? Let us know your experiences or thoughts by emailing us at reducation@redcross.org.uk