A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water submerges that land. In the other sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide.
While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.
Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding. Lately in various regions of frequent flooding, following the influence of flooding:
Primary effects: Physical damage – Can damage any type of structure, including bridges, cars, buildings, sewerage systems, roadways, and canals.
Secondary effects: Water supplies – Contamination of water. Clean drinking water becomes scarce. Diseases – Unhygienic conditions. Spread of water-borne diseases. Transport - Transport links destroyed, so hard to get emergency aid to those who need it.
Tertiary/long-term effects: Economic – Economic hardship, due to: temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase, etc
In various areas, flooding is very difficult to control, but some efforts from society and government can be enough to overcome the flood example in many countries across the world, rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed. Defenses such as levees, bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defenses fail, emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are used. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe and the Americas with Coastal defenses, such as sea walls, beach nourishment, and barrier islands.
Flooding is also a natural phenomenon that cannot be predicted, the EU Floods directive said a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. Deluge myths are mythical stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution, and are featured in the mythology of many cultures.
References:
Wikipedia.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, access on: November 22, 2011
panda.org.22/09/2011. Natural disaster flood, available at:http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/natural_disasters/floods, access on: November 22, 2011
Library.thinkquest.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/flooding/causesoffloods.shtml , access on: November 22, 2011
projectshum.org.22/09/2011. Natural disaster flood, available at:http://www.projectshum.org/NaturalDisasters/flood.html , access on: November 22, 2011
Wikipedia.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, access on: November 22, 2011
While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.
Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding. Lately in various regions of frequent flooding, following the influence of flooding:
Primary effects: Physical damage – Can damage any type of structure, including bridges, cars, buildings, sewerage systems, roadways, and canals.
Secondary effects: Water supplies – Contamination of water. Clean drinking water becomes scarce. Diseases – Unhygienic conditions. Spread of water-borne diseases. Transport - Transport links destroyed, so hard to get emergency aid to those who need it.
Tertiary/long-term effects: Economic – Economic hardship, due to: temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase, etc
In various areas, flooding is very difficult to control, but some efforts from society and government can be enough to overcome the flood example in many countries across the world, rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed. Defenses such as levees, bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defenses fail, emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are used. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe and the Americas with Coastal defenses, such as sea walls, beach nourishment, and barrier islands.
Flooding is also a natural phenomenon that cannot be predicted, the EU Floods directive said a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. Deluge myths are mythical stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution, and are featured in the mythology of many cultures.
References:
Wikipedia.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, access on: November 22, 2011
panda.org.22/09/2011. Natural disaster flood, available at:http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/natural_disasters/floods, access on: November 22, 2011
Library.thinkquest.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/flooding/causesoffloods.shtml , access on: November 22, 2011
projectshum.org.22/09/2011. Natural disaster flood, available at:http://www.projectshum.org/NaturalDisasters/flood.html , access on: November 22, 2011
Wikipedia.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, access on: November 22, 2011
RSS Feed