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    Floods and Society

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    aviralpareek
    Floods pose a major danger and are among the costliest natural disasters. They occur frequently worldwide and have caused over $3 billion annually in damage in the US alone. Floods are responsible for the majority of damage from natural disasters and are the number one weather-related cause of death. While flood safety awareness has increased, more development in flood-prone areas and unpredictable flooding has led to rising costs and loss of life from floods in recent decades. There are several types of floods including river floods, flash floods, coastal floods, and those caused by volcanic eruptions or ice jams. Urbanization has also exacerbated flooding risks.

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    Floods and Society

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    aviralpareek
    364 views5 pages
    Floods pose a major danger and are among the costliest natural disasters. They occur frequently worldwide and have caused over $3 billion annually in damage in the US alone. Floods are responsible for the majority of damage from natural disasters and are the number one weather-related cause of death. While flood safety awareness has increased, more development in flood-prone areas and unpredictable flooding has led to rising costs and loss of life from floods in recent decades. There are several types of floods including river floods, flash floods, coastal floods, and those caused by volcanic eruptions or ice jams. Urbanization has also exacerbated flooding risks.

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    Floods pose a major danger and are among the costliest natural disasters. They occur frequently worldwide and have caused over $3 billion annually in damage in the US alone. Floods are responsible for the majority of damage from natural disasters and are the number one weather-related cause of death. While flood safety awareness has increased, more development in flood-prone areas and unpredictable flooding has led to rising costs and loss of life from floods in recent decades. There are several types of floods including river floods, flash floods, coastal floods, and those caused by volcanic eruptions or ice jams. Urbanization has also exacerbated flooding risks.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    364 views5 pages

    Floods and Society

    Uploaded by

    aviralpareek
    Floods pose a major danger and are among the costliest natural disasters. They occur frequently worldwide and have caused over $3 billion annually in damage in the US alone. Floods are responsible for the majority of damage from natural disasters and are the number one weather-related cause of death. While flood safety awareness has increased, more development in flood-prone areas and unpredictable flooding has led to rising costs and loss of life from floods in recent decades. There are several types of floods including river floods, flash floods, coastal floods, and those caused by volcanic eruptions or ice jams. Urbanization has also exacerbated flooding risks.

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    Floods and Society

    by Katy Pearce and Deborah Leib

    Floods are among the most frequent and costly


    natural disasters in terms of human hardship and economic loss. (Floods)
    Peoples? lack of education about flooding preparation and the instability of
    predicting floods has led to a $3.1 billion annual cost for the United States alone
    (Floods) and more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide in one year. (Confronting
    Natural Disasters: An International Decade for Natural Hazard Reduction)
    Excluding droughts, almost ninety per cent of damages relating to natural
    disasters is caused directly or indirectly by floods. Seventy-five per cent of the
    time that a President of the United States declares an area a disaster, it is due to
    flooding. Floods and flash floods kill more people in this country than any other
    natural disaster. The damage and death toll seem to be rising. The biggest killer
    used to be lightening, but with increased awareness about thunderstorms and
    their safety rules, people are able to avoid the effects of lightening. However,
    more and more people are living in flood-prone areas, such as along riverbeds
    and in floodplains and that makes the chance of flood-related death higher.
    (Floods) Also the high costs and maintenance of flood protection systems and
    structures tends to turn communities off from proposing methods for dealing with
    this potential killer.

    Floods pose tremendous danger to people


    and property. Since 1900, floods have taken
    more than 10,000 lives in the United States
    alone. Eighty per cent of flood deaths take
    place in a vehicle. Just six inches of flood
    water can knock an adult down. Only two feet of water can float a large sized
    vehicle. One-third of flooded roads and bridges are so damaged that only fifty per
    cent of those trying to cross in a vehicle make it to the other side. (Facts About
    Flooding)

    A flood is defined as a high flow of water that comes from a body of water
    (Basics of Flooding) and overtops the normal confinements and/or covers land
    that is normally dry. (Nuhfer, Proctor, and Moser) Floods are the most common
    and widespread of all natural disasters, besides fire. (Backgrounder: Floods and
    Flash Floods) They are also the number one related killer. (Project Safeside:
    Flood and Flash Flood Safety)
    12

    There are three major types of floods: river floods, flash floods and coastal
    floods. River floods are caused by high or overflowing water from a river and
    typically occur after winter and spring rains and when snow is melting. (Flood and
    Flash Flood Occurrence) This water is directed to a major stream from its
    drainage basin. (Nuhfer, Proctor, and Moser) River floods can also occur when
    ice or floating debris cause a jam. (Flood and Flash Flood Occurrence) The
    debris flows tend to occur primarily in the summer. Intensive snowmelt in the
    mountains causes the debris to flow in the spring and rapid thawing glaciers
    cause the problems that happen during the summer. (Hiadny and Buchtele)
    Torrential rains also cause river floods from decaying hurricanes (Project
    Safeside: Flood and Flash Flood Safety) or sustained rainfall from a frontal
    storm. (Flood Climatology)

    25

    Flash floods occur when excessive rainfall sends a


    river out of its bank in a period of several hours or
    less (Flood and Flash Flood Occurrence), usually
    during the night. (Prediction and Mitigation of
    Flash Floods) The usually are the result of
    cloudbursts or torrential rains. (Confronting Natural
    Disasters: An International Decade for Natural
    Hazard Reduction) Flash floods can reach heights of twenty feet and higher.
    (Flash Flood Safety Rules) This type of natural disaster is common mainly in
    desert and mountainous regions. However, they can still occur and cause
    damage where streams flow in narrow canyons, where there are steep terrain
    and high surface run off rates. They also can occur whenever thunderstorms are
    present. (Confronting Natural Disasters: An International Decade for Natural
    Hazard Reduction) The two key elements to flash flooding are rainfall intensity
    and duration. Intensity is the rate of rainfall and duration is how long the rain
    lasts. Topography, soil conditions and ground cover also play a role. (Flash
    Floods: NWSFO) Like river floods, flash floods can be caused by a spring thaw
    (Project Safeside: Flood and Flash Flood Safety) or intense storms, specifically
    thunderstorms (Flood Climatology) or storms with a large amount of rainfall in a
    short period of time. (Backgrounder: Floods and Flash Floods) These large
    amounts of rain pour large amounts of water in to small drainage basins. (Nuhfer,
    Proctor, and Moser) Ice jams, overflowing drainage basins and dam breaks also
    cause flash floods. (Flood and Flash Flood Occurrence) Low permeability soils or
    soils in a highly saturated state, impervious ground surfaces, steep slopes that
    facilitate rapid flood-wave movement, and possible anchor convections are all
    conductive to the genesis of flash floods. (Prediction and Mitigation of Flash
    Floods) Flash floods give little or no warning, which makes the potential danger
    much greater. (Backgrounder: Floods and Flash Floods) Flash floods can roll
    boulders, tear out trees, destroy
    building and bridges, and scour out
    new channels. (Flash Floods:
    NWSFO)

    33

    13

    The third major type of flood, coastal floods, occurs when strong offshore winds
    that push water from an ocean on to the land. (Flood and Flash Flood
    Occurrence) Low barometric pressure in storms like hurricanes cause the sea
    level to rise locally above the coastal lowlands. (Nuhfer, Proctor, and Moser)
    Eventually storm surges are produced. (Flood and Flash Flood Occurrence)
    Coastal areas are often barrier islands, swamps and plains with many rivers. The
    additional rainfall in these areas increases flooding in the surrounding low lying
    areas. (Flood Climatology) The overflowing seawater then rushes in to the
    mouths of river channels and covers the area with water. (Nuhfer, Proctor, and
    Moser) Escape routes can be cut off and blocked by high water. (Flooding Takes
    Many Forms: NWSFO)

    15

    Volcanoes surprisingly also cause floods. They are produced by the melting of
    ice and snow during ice-clad volcanic eruptions and by heavy rains that may
    associate with eruptions. This is a type of flood that can be large and occur
    suddenly. If the rivers are already high due to snowmelt or rainfall, the floods can
    be greater than normal. (Miller) Smaller historical meltwater floods caused by
    volcanic heating have occurred in Iceland and Ecuador. (Nuhfer, Proctor, and
    Moser) Floods that are eruption-caused can be more damaging than others can
    because they contain a large amount of sediment. (Miller) During the eruption of
    Mount Saint Helens in 1980, flash floods and mudflows occurred. (Nuhfer,
    Proctor, and Moser)

    Urban floods are when land is converted from fields or woodlands to roads and
    parking lots; it loses it ability to absorb rainfall. Urbanization increases runoff two
    to six times over what would occur in natural terrain. During urban flooding,
    streets can become swift moving rivers, while basements can become deadly as
    they fill with water. (Flooding Takes Many Forms: NWSFO) (Flood and Flash
    Flood Occurrence)

    Arroyos/Washes are a water-carved gully or normally dry creek bed. Arroyos can
    fill with fast-moving water very quickly. (Flooding Takes Many Forms: NWSFO)

    11

    Ice jams usually occur in cold arctic-like regions. These occur when ice breaks
    up in to cakes and sheets. The flow of the river, augmented by the run off from
    snow melt released by the warm weather, becomes obstructed and is dammed
    up by the ice. The water accumulates and the river rises. A return to cold weather
    may arrest the snowmelt run off and the jam holds until the next thaw. The dam
    grows until the force of the backwater can break the jam. The rapid release of the
    impounded water and ice can result in a flood downstream. (Hoyt and Langbein)

    Floods have accompanied mankind throughout time. Damage and deaths have
    occurred. The environment and economy have played a large part in the impact
    of flooding. Increased density of population in areas prone to floods,
    urbanization, and "people?s marked changed way of life in respect to nature and
    natural resources" are some of the causes of flooding. (Hiadny and Buchtele)

    29

    What exactly happens to the environment to create a flood? Floods occur in five
    stages, called the run off cycle. Stage one is a fair weather rainless period. Low
    rivers with dry rills and slow seepage from ground water are present. The fair
    weather has depleted land water drainage from ground water in to stream; this
    lowers the water table. The water table drops below the channel stream and
    gradually dries up. The lowering of the water table restores the underground
    storage capacity of the soil. Stage two has uniform and light rain. A small amount
    of rain falls directly in to the stream and becomes an increasment of water and
    stream flow. Some rain goes to vegetation, some rain wets the ground and is
    caught by small depressions and puddles. There is no overflow. In stage three
    the rainfall increases. The vegetation is thoroughly wetted and the surface
    depressions and puddles begin to overflow. The additional rain becomes runoff
    or infiltrates the soil. The dry soil absorbs the water freely, and the sodden soil
    absorbs it slowly. Rainfall exceeds the infiltration rates and active surface runoff
    now exists. This runoff may or may not reach the stream channels depending on
    the infiltration capacity of the ground.

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