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Flood Facts

Flood Facts
Floods occur when there is an overflow of water onto land that would normally be dry, and can cause serious issues for public health, agriculture, engineering, and public safety. Flooding can occur as a result of an overflow of water onto already saturated ground, or when a river's flow rate increases, or when there is a downpour of rain or fast melting snow that cannot be contained in the waterway that usually contains it. Floods can occur slowly or very quickly. The term flood is derived from the word 'flod' and Old English word. Flooding can result in injury and death to humans and animals when it occurs without warning or when people do not listen to the warnings.
Interesting Flood Facts:
Floods can occur anywhere.
Flooding can result from natural causes such as flash floods, melting snow, too much rain, tropical storms or hurricanes.
Flooding can also occur because of manmade problems such as land development, broken dams, or poor engineering.
Flooding is the most common natural disaster to occur in the United States.
In the United States flooding caused roughly $8 billion in damages a year.
When development occurs, such as building roadways and buildings and housing communities, it decreases the amount of land available to absorb water and increases the risk of flooding.
Deserts are prone to flooding as the land is so dry that it is not able to absorb the water and it can lead to flash floods along the water's route.
During flooding the water can become dangerous and even deadly as there are often live power lines downed in the water.
Flood water can be very dangerous for public health as it can contain a variety of debris, dangerous microorganisms, raw sewage, and even unknown sharp objects beneath the surface.
If caught in a flood it is important to avoid walking or swimming in the water as it is usually dangerous due to contamination and other objects.
It is important to avoid walking in flood water as it only takes a mere six inches of flood water moving fast enough to knock an adult down, which can result in being carried along or drowned.
A car can be carried away by only two feet of flood water.
A flash flood is capable of having up to 15 foot walls of moving water.
Flooding can also occur because of fast thawing snow when the ground is still frozen and cannot absorb the water.
Ice jams from melting snow and ice can cause ice jam flooding.
Flooding can occur because of wave surges along coastal regions.
Even when caused by melting snow or overflowing rivers, floodwater is never safe to drink.
The Huang He River in China has caused the 5 deadliest floods in the world. It killed between 1-4 million people in 1931.
The deadliest flood in United States history occurred in 1900 in Galveston Texas and killed more than 6,000 people.
Hurricane Katrina claimed almost 2,000 lives.
Global warming has the potential to cause more flooding around the world.


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