Student-Led Presentations

Flooding in Central Europe — Storm Boris

Written by Yunxuan

Standing in front of my peers and practicing my public speaking was not an easy task. The presentation was my first experience in demonstrating my knowledge in the subjects that I learnt. I spent some time preparing a presentation on the topic of my interest, based on previous research of the material, and talked about the subject of flooding in Geography. The flooding could be primarily attributed to the jet stream travelling from Atlantic Ocean. It had intense force and moisture, making it a candidate of catalyst for heavy rainfall. Surrounding high pressure areas forced the low pressure area (cyclone) of jet stream to tarry over the area of Central Europe, spanning from the Alps to Poland. At the mean time, moisture quickly ascended and following a series of chemical reactions, precipitated an amount of 288 mm of precipitation in just a few days, equivalent to 3 months of rainfall. Relief rainfall on top of the alps was transported by river, and in conjunction with the oversaturated ground, most of the water ended up in the streams. Such event was unprepared for by the city drainage system in the area.

The result was that the streams eventually bursted their banks and excess water flowed over the plain the cities were built on. As result, some areas were deeply affected, people were evacuated, places are left without electricity and basic supplies. There was at least few billion dollars worth of damage throughout the area of Central Europe.
Although not everyone may be into Geography, I definitely recommend to try and present your ideas in public at least once in your life, as I benefitted a lot.