Various things can be done to prevent and control flooding:
The construction of dams to control the amount of water being discharged
The construction of levees and dykes to contain water
The straightening of meanders to enable flood water to escape more quickly
Afforestation to increase transpiration and infiltration (water will be removed from the river basin as it is taken up by the roots)
Sandbagging to prevent the flooding of buildings
Avoiding building on flood plains - flood plain zoning
Ecological flooding - allowing meanders to flood to prevent flooding elsewhere
Coasts are important for many different reasons and for different groups of people. They provide:
places to live
places to work, e.g. fishing, ports and power stations
places to relax - leisure and tourism industries
wildlife habitats
beautiful scenery
educational value, e.g. geology and natural history
You can probably think of many more reasons why coasts need to be protected.
It is not possible to completely stop the power of natural forces from changing the coast. People try to protect some areas from erosion but this can have negative impacts as well as positive. Various things can be done to prevent and control coastline flooding:
sea walls
Groynes
Rip rap
Offshore breakers
The way the coast is managed can cause conflict. There are two types of coastal management:
Hard engineering - this involves building structures to protect the coast.
Soft engineering - this involves working with nature by using natural materials or allowing nature to take back areas.
The following video investigates if coastal management is good or bad for the town of Lyme Regis.