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Vegetation

The difference in water output from a vegetated and urban landscape. Image credit: https://www.susdrain.org/delivering-suds/using-suds/background/sustainable-drainage.html
The difference in water output from a vegetated and urban landscape. Image credit: https://www.susdrain.org/delivering-suds/using-suds/background/sustainable-drainage.html

Vegetation helps to reduce the impact of flooding by:

Interception- leaves, branches, and trunks slow down the rain before it hits the ground by getting in the way. This allows some of the water  to evaporate back into the atmosphere directly from the vegetation without ever reaching the ground.

Roots- plants take up water from the soil and return it to the atmosphere (a process known as evapo-transpiration). This allows the soil to absorb more rainfall. Root systems help water penetrate deeper into the soil at a faster rate under and around vegetation. This means less surface run-off and more water storage in the soil.

Slowing the flow- trees, shrubs and deadwood along riverbanks and on floodplains act as a drag on flood waters, holding back water and slowing the flow at times of flooding.