A flood happens when water overflows or soaks country that is normally dry out. There are few places on World where people don't demand to exist concerned near flooding. More often than not, floods take hours or even days to develop, giving residents time to prepare or evacuate. Sometimes, floods develop quickly and with trivial alarm.

A overflowing tin develop in a many ways. The most common is when rivers or streams overflow their banks. These floods are called riverine floods. Heavy rain, a broken dam or levee, rapid icemelt in the mountains, or fifty-fifty a beaver dam in a vulnerable spot tin overwhelm a river and send it spreading over nearby state. The land surrounding a river is called a inundation plain.

Littoral flooding, as well called estuarine flooding, happens when a large tempest or seismic sea wave causes the bounding main to rush inland.

Floods are the second-most widespread natural disaster on Earth, after wildfires. All 50 of the United States are vulnerable to flooding.

Furnishings of Floods

When floodwaters recede, affected areas are often blanketed in silt and mud. This sediment can be total of nutrients, benefiting farmers and agribusinesses in the surface area. Famously fertile overflowing plains like the Mississippi River valley in the American Midwest, the Nile River valley in Egypt, and the Fertile Crescent in the Middle Due east have supported agronomics for thousands of years. Yearly flooding has left millions of tons of nutrient-rich soil backside.

However, floods have enormous subversive power. When a river overflows its banks or the sea moves inland, many structures are unable to withstand the force of the water. Bridges, houses, trees, and cars can be picked upwards and carried off. Floods erode soil, taking information technology from under a building'southward foundation, causing the building to crack and tumble. Astringent flooding in Bangladesh in July 2007 led to more than a million homes existence damaged or destroyed.

Floods can crusade even more harm when their waters recede. The water and landscape can be contaminated with hazardous materials, such as abrupt debris, pesticides, fuel, and untreated sewage. Potentially dangerous mold can apace overwhelm h2o-soaked structures.

As overflowing water spreads, it carries affliction. Flood victims tin can be left for weeks without clean water for drinking or hygiene. This can lead to outbreaks of mortiferous diseases like typhoid, malaria, hepatitis A, and cholera. This happened in 2000, every bit hundreds of people in Mozambique fled to refugee camps after the Limpopo River flooded their homes. They soon savage ill and died from cholera, which is spread past unsanitary weather condition, and malaria, spread by mosquitoes that thrived on the swollen river banks.

In the United States, floods are responsible for an boilerplate of nearly 100 deaths every year, and crusade about $7.v billion in impairment.

Communist china'southward Yellowish River valley has seen some of the earth'south worst floods in the by 100 years. The 1931 Yellow River flood is one of the most devastating natural disasters ever recorded—almost a million people drowned, and fifty-fifty more than were left homeless.

Natural Causes of Floods

Floods occur naturally. They are part of the water cycle, and the environment is adapted to flooding. Wetlands along river banks, lakes, and estuaries absorb flood waters. Wetland vegetation, such as copse, grasses, and sedges, slow the speed of inundation waters and more than evenly distribute their free energy. Co-ordinate to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the wetlands forth the Mississippi River one time stored at least 60 days of flood water. (Today, Mississippi wetlands store only 12 days of overflowing water. Near wetlands have been filled or drained.)

Floods can also devastate an surroundings. The almost vulnerable regions are those that experience frequent floods and those that have non flooded for many years. In the first instance, the environs does non have fourth dimension to recover betwixt floods. In the second example, the environment may not be able to suit to alluvion weather condition.

In August 2010, Pakistan experienced some of the worst floods of the century. The almanac monsoon, on which Pakistani farmers and consumers rely, was unusually strong. Tons of water drenched the nation. The Indus River burst its banks. Because the river flows nearly directly through the narrow state, almost all of Pakistan was afflicted by flooding.

Millions of Pakistanis lost their homes, and about 2,000 died in the floods. The province of Punjab, the country's agricultural center, was peculiarly devastated. Rice, wheat, and corn crops were destroyed. The impact of the floods continued long after the monsoon dwindled and the Indus subsided. Pakistanis experienced food shortages, power outages, and loss of infrastructure. Outbreaks of cholera and malaria developed almost resettlement camps. Experts estimated that the rebuilding try would cost up to $15 billion.

Sometimes, floods are triggered past other natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. In Jan 2011, a major earthquake struck off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The quake triggered a massive tsunami, its crest reaching as high as 40 meters (131 feet). The tsunami crashed more than than 10 kilometers (half-dozen miles) inland, flooding homes, businesses, schools, parks, hospitals, and the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Ability Plant. A dam holding a reservoir burst, triggering some other flood that destroyed homes.

Rain that accompanies hurricanes and cyclones tin can speedily alluvion coastal areas. The rise in ocean level that occurs during these storms is called a storm surge. A storm surge is a type of littoral flood. They can be devastating. The tempest surge that accompanied the 1970 Bhola cyclone flooded the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta in India and Bangladesh. More than 500,000 people were killed, and twice that number were left homeless.

The strong winds associated with hurricanes and cyclones can likewise whip up and motion huge amounts of water, forcing a storm surge far inland. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina brought huge amounts of current of air and rain to the Gulf Coast of the United states of america. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, was especially difficult-hit. The tempest surge from Hurricane Katrina caused some of the city'southward levees to intermission. Levees protect New Orleans from the Mississippi River. The river rushed in and flooded entire neighborhoods. Hundreds of people drowned, and the storm did more than $100 billion in damage.

Man-Made Causes of Floods

Floods tin can as well have human-fabricated sources. Many man-made floods are intentional and controlled.

Rice farmers, for instance, rely on flooded fields. Rice is a semi-aquatic ingather—it grows in water. After rice seedlings are planted, farmers flood their fields, called rice paddies, in well-nigh 15 to 25 centimeters (6 to 10 inches) of water. Rice paddies must be carefully engineered to let controlled flooding. Strong dikes or levees, as well as regulated channels for irrigation, are required.

Sometimes, engineers flood an area to restore an ecosystem. In 2008, the Grand Canyon was deliberately flooded. Water was released from dams on the Colorado River, which runs through the Grand Canyon. In xx minutes, plenty water was released from a dam at Lake Powell, Utah, to fill up the Empire State Building. Hydrologists, engineers, and environmentalists hoped that flooding the coulee would aid redistribute sediment—which had been blocked up past dams—and create sandbars. Sandbars provide a wildlife habitat, frequently serving as a shallow bridge for animals such equally beavers and bighorn sheep to cantankerous from one side of the river to the other.

Dams control the natural flood plains of lakes and rivers. Hydrologists may intentionally flood areas to preclude harm to the dam or increase the water supply for agriculture, industry, or consumer apply.

Engineers may also intentionally alluvion areas to prevent the possibility of worse flooding. When heavy rains caused the Souris River to flood in 2011, for example, the water level well-nigh reached the top of the Alameda Reservoir in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Canada. Faced with the prospect of catastrophic flooding if the entire dam broke, engineers chose to release huge amounts of water. The reservoir remained intact, but the release contributed to massive floods in both Saskatchewan and the U.S. city of Minot, North Dakota.

Not all human being-fabricated floods are intentional, withal. The natural banks of rivers and streams shrink as people develop land nearby. River banks are valuable real manor for housing, businesses, and industry. From Shanghai, China, to San Antonio, Texas, rivers are the sites of busy urban areas. In rural areas, factories utilise river currents to distribute runoff. To accommodate such development, river banks are paved with difficult, non-porous materials. Soils and plants are replaced with concrete and cobblestone, which can't absorb water. An unusual amount of pelting can cause these rivers to rapidly overrun their concrete banks.

Commonwealth of australia is conducting an investigation of Brisbane's development decisions after the Brisbane River overran its banks and flooded the country'due south capital letter in 2011. Streets, downtown business districts, and bridges were destroyed. H2o reached the tertiary row of seats in the urban center'due south rugby stadium. The overflowing waters were high enough (ii meters/6 anxiety) that bull sharks were spotted swimming upwards major streets.

Concrete banks also increase the amount of runoff flowing to nearby bodies of water. This increases the take a chance of coastal flooding. Venice, Italia, for instance, is oft flooded as tides from the Adriatic Body of water seep into the heavily developed islands on which the urban center rests.

Hydrologists, engineers, and city planners constantly work to reduce flood harm. Shrubs and plants create buffers to forbid runoff from seeping into flood plains, urban areas, or other bodies of water. The thick vegetation between a river and a flood apparently is called a riparian zone.

Despite their efforts, people can also radically fail to control floods. The most famous flood in American history, the Johnstown Flood, was a man-fabricated disaster. The tragedy killed 2,209 people and made headlines around the state.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was on a alluvion apparently at the meeting of the Stony Creek and Little Conemaugh rivers. Equally more people moved to the city, the banks of the rivers were paved and narrowed, causing yearly flooding. Residents were prepared for this. They watched the river and moved their property upstairs or onto rooftops as the city flooded.

Nonetheless, residents were not prepared for the additional flood from an entire lake. Located in nearby mountains, Lake Conemaugh was a reservoir created by the Southward Fork Dam. The lake was an exclusive retreat for members of the South Fork Line-fishing and Hunting Club, which endemic the dam. Lake Conemaugh contained 20 million tons of water.

On May 31, 1889, the dam broke and the water rushed downwards the river at 64 kilometers per hour (xl miles per hour). Johnstown's leading industry was steel product, and the flood waters quickly became choked with industrial debris—steel cables, chemical solvents, drinking glass, rail cars. The inundation destroyed a wire factory, filling the water with tons of barbed wire. Almost 80 people died when floating wreckage caught burn down.

Rebuilding Johnstown took years—the bodies of some victims were non found until 20 years later. Although the South Fork Line-fishing and Hunting Guild failed to maintain the dam, members of the club successfully argued that the disaster was an "act of God."

Inundation Classification

Disaster experts classify floods co-ordinate to their likelihood of occurring in a given fourth dimension catamenia. The about mutual classifications are a 10-year inundation, a 50-year inundation, and a 100-year flood. A 100-year overflowing, for case, is an extremely big, destructive event that would be expected to happen only once every century.

Just this is only an guess. What "100-year flood" really means is that in that location is a 1 pct take chances that such a flood could happen in any given year. In recent decades, 100-year floods accept occurred more frequently. This may exist due to global warming, the current period of climatic change.

The Red River, which flows along the edge of North Dakota and Minnesota, chronically floods. Annihilation over viii.five meters (28 feet) is considered "flood stage" in the area. In 1997, the river crested at almost 12 meters (xl feet), a tape level. In 2009, the record was browbeaten as the river flooded again, reaching a acme of near 12.5 meters (xl.8 feet). The river flooded for 61 days.

Flash floods can develop within hours of heavy rainfall. Flash floods can be extremely unsafe, instantly turning a babbling brook into a thundering wall of water that sweeps away everything in its path. Most deaths from flooding occur as a result of flash floods. Wink floods practise non have a organization for classifying their magnitude.

Deserts are vulnerable to flash floods. Wadis and arroyos are dry out river beds that only menstruation during heavy rains. Wadis can be unsafe during flash floods because they rarely have riparian zones to tedious the flood's energy. The city of Jeddah, Kingdom of saudi arabia, developed on the site of several wadis, and floods are frequent after heavy rains. More than 100 people died in wink floods in Jeddah in 2009. The floods adult so quickly that many victims drowned in their cars as streets became submerged.

Predicting Floods

Today, hydrologists written report past flood patterns to help predict where and when floods will happen in the future. The predictions are just estimates, however. Weather, land, and climate can all modify.

An area'south soil and groundwater provide clues about flooding. Pedologists, or soil scientists, work with hydrologists to determine how much h2o a region's earth tin absorb. Agricultural soil, for case, can absorb much more water than sand or blank stone. Groundwater is water already in the globe—in soil, undercover reservoirs called aquifers, and fifty-fifty porous rocks. The type of soil and the amount of groundwater tells hydrologists how much more h2o the earth can absorb.

Determining the amount of runoff in an area can likewise provide clues about the possibility of flooding. Runoff happens when there is more than water than soil can absorb. Excess water overflows and runs on top of the land. Runoff can come from natural processes, such every bit icemelt. Information technology can also come from homo activity, such as backlog irrigation, sewage, and industrial waste. Controlling runoff tin help control floods.

Hydrologists work with meteorologists to evaluate snowfall and snowpack. Melting snow contributes to runoff and increases groundwater levels. When snow melts quickly, the footing may non have time to absorb the water. Snowfall is ane of the biggest contributors to flooding, and cannot always exist predicted. Rapid snowmelt in the Andes Mountains, for example, creates mudslides and floods that disable railways and bridges. In 2010, snowmelt flooding trapped 4,000 tourists in towns near the remote celebrated site of Machu Picchu, Peru, for two days.

Modern technology helps researchers predict floods. Doppler radar, for example, shows scientists where a tempest is about astringent. Doppler uses motion to detect weather patterns and create computerized images of rainfall. Automated gauges placed in rivers measure the height and speed of river currents, and the amount of pelting received. Geographic information system (GIS) maps made with this data help scientists warn people if a river will overrun its banks and flood areas nearby.

Preventing Floods

For thousands of years, people have tried to forbid and control floods. Yu the Great, for example, is a legendary figure in Chinese history. Around 2100 BCE, Yu developed a way to control the devastating floods of the Yellow River. Yu studied data from previous Yellow River floods, noting where the menses was the strongest and flood plains were virtually vulnerable. Instead of damming the river, Yu dredged it—he and a team of engineers made river channels deeper to accommodate more water. Yu also oversaw the construction of numerous irrigation canals, which diverted the flow of the river's mainstem during times of flooding.

It'south not e'er possible to preclude floods, merely it is oft possible to minimize flood damage. Structures around rivers, lakes, and the body of water can contain flood waters. Levees, runoff canals, and reservoirs can stop water from alluvion.

Levees are usually made of earth. They are built by piling soil, sand, or rocks near a river's banks. Levees may also exist made of blocks of wood, plastic, or metal. They may even be reinforced past physical. Levees in New Orleans, for example, employ compacted earth, wooden beams, iron rebar, steel pilings, and concrete to hold back the mighty Mississippi River.

Runoff canals are man-fabricated channels. These structures are connected to rivers and direct excess water away from buildings and residences. One of the outset canals in North America was synthetic in about 200 BCE to control the seasonal overflowing waters of Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Today, southern Florida is criss-crossed past runoff canals that redirect the menstruation of the Everglades, the "River of Grass" that runs from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. These canals redirect flood water away from urban areas in southern Florida and toward irrigation canals primarily used for fields of saccharide cane.

Natural and human being-made reservoirs help prevent flooding. Natural reservoirs are basins where freshwater collects. Man-made reservoirs collect water behind a dam. They tin can hold more h2o in times of heavy rainfall. In April 2011, the authorities of Ethiopia announced plans for a big dam on the Blue Nile River. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which would be the largest dam in Africa, would create a reservoir capable of holding 67 billion cubic meters (ii.iv trillion cubic feet) of water. The dam would prevent flooding downstream and provide the nation with hydroelectric energy.

Conserving wetlands too reduces the affect of floods. Wetlands provide a natural barrier, acting equally a giant sponge for tempest surges and alluvion plains. The swamps and bayous of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, for example, protect inland areas from both coastal and riverine flooding. Wetlands absorb the storm surge from hurricanes that hit the area from the Gulf of United mexican states. Wetland riparian zones that line the Mississippi River protect fertile flood plains as the river overflows its banks.

Many governments mandate that residents of overflowing-prone areas purchase overflowing insurance and build inundation-resistant structures. Massive efforts to mitigate and redirect floods have resulted in some of the most ambitious engineering efforts ever seen. The Thames Barrier is i of the largest flood-command projects in the world. The Thames Barrier protects the urban area of London, England, from floods from storm surges that blitz upwardly the River Thames from the Atlantic Ocean. A series of ten steel gates span the river near London'south Woolrich district. Each gate can hold back nine,000 tons of water, and disappears into the river when the water is calm.

Perhaps the most extensive and sophisticated flood-prevention program is the Zuiderzee Works in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a low-lying nation that is plagued past coastal flooding from the Northward Sea. Beginning in the 1200s, the Dutch began to erect a series of massive dikes and levees on its coast. In the 1900s, Dutch engineers worked to isolate and dam an entire inlet of the Due north Body of water, the Zuiderzee. The largest part of the Zuiderzee Works is the Afsluitdijk, a 32-kilometer (20-mile) dike that cuts off the Zuiderzee from the Northward Sea. In addition to protecting kingdom of the netherlands from flooding, the Zuiderzee Works has drained parts of the Zuiderzee for development.

flood

Another word for inundation is drench (pronounced day-LOOJ or DEH-looj).

Apres Moi, le Deluge
"After me, the flood" (in French, "apres moi, le deluge") is a phrase attributed to the French King Louis XV or his mistress, Madame de Pompadour.

The phrase is a casual manner of expressing irresponsibility, something similar "When I go out a projection, I don't care if a catastrophe happens. Information technology no longer concerns me."

Toxic Flood
At that place are many examples of toxic materials, from hog manure to coal slurry, flooding communities. One of the most unusual was the 2010 rupture of a chemical storage tank at an aluminum manufacturing plant in Ajka, Hungary. The bright-reddish sludge was responsible for at least four deaths, as well equally the relocation of hundreds of Hungarians. The toxic sludge, which included pb and arsenic, was eventually diluted past the Danube River.

London Beer Flood
In 1814, vats containing 1.47 one thousand thousand liters (388,333 gallons) of beer spilled in the St. Giles surface area of London, England. Several homes and businesses were destroyed, and seven people drowned.

Boston Molasses Flood
In 1919, an 8.7 one thousand thousand-liter (two.three million-gallon) tank of molasses exploded in the North Cease area of Boston, Massachusetts. The wave of molasses crested every bit high equally iii meters (10 feet) and moved as quickly every bit 56 kilometers per hour (35 miles per 60 minutes). A train was lifted off its tracks, and 21 people died. Six months afterward, Boston Harbor remained chocolate-brown with molasses.

Costliest U.S. Floods
As of July 2011, according to the Federal Emergency Direction Association (FEMA):
Hurricane Katrina (2005)
$16.2 billion
Hurricane Ike (2008)
$2.6 billion
Hurricane Ivan (2004)
$ane.2 billion
Tropical Storm Allison (1989)
$i.i billion
Louisiana Flood (1995)
$585 million

Overflowing equally a War Tactic
In 1937, the Chinese government destroyed the dike at Huayuankou, on the Yellow River, to stop the Japanese invasion. The invasion connected by a unlike route, but the environmental devastation of the flooding was immense. At least 800,000 people drowned, and more than than a meg were made homeless. More than a m square kilometers of farmland was underwater. Flooding changed the course of the Yellowish River to such an extent that its mouth moved dozens of kilometers to the south. Ten years afterwards, the dike at Huayuankou was rebuilt and the Yellow River resumed its previous course.

"The Hero of Haarlem"
A popular story concerns a young boy from the town of Haarlem, Netherlands, who notices a leak in the boondocks's dike. The Spaarne River is flowing through a tiny hole in the barrier, threatening to inundation the town. The young male child plugs the leak with his finger, and stays there all dark. Adults observe him the adjacent morning and permanently repair the leak. Although first written about by an American (Mary Mapes Dodge, in her book Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates), the story is from holland.

The story has been changed and retold many times. In most versions, the dike is belongings back the North Sea, not a river. In some versions of the story, the young boy freezes to death during his all-night stay at the dike.

Flood Myths
Stories about great, Earth-drowning floods are mutual throughout world cultures. Many stories are remarkably like: A deity warns a virtuous man well-nigh a catastrophic flood. The man builds a large boat, saving himself, his family, animals, and plants from the alluvion, which destroys the residue of the Earth. Eventually, the man releases two birds to see if they bring back vegetation (which tin merely grow in soil). A bird returns, and man civilization is saved.

The well-nigh famous version of this alluvion myth is probably the story of Noah, recorded in the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran. Another version is the Mesopotamian legend of Utnapishtim, recorded in the Legend of Gilgamesh, 1 of the primeval works of literature, predating the Torah by more than a thou years. The Maasai legend of Tumbainot, the Altai myth of Nama, and the Hawaiian myth of Nuu are all remarkably like.

100-yr inundation

Noun

inundation that has a 1-percentage chance of occurring any year.

accommodate

Verb

to provide or satisfy.

human action of God

Noun

legal term for a catastrophic upshot that cannot be foreseen or controlled.

adapt

Verb

to adjust to new environment or a new situation.

Afsluitdijk

Noun

(32 kilometers/20 miles long, 7 meters/23 feet higher up sea level) dike in the Netherlands that partly dams the North Sea.

agribusiness

Noun

the strategy of applying profit-making practices to the operation of farms and ranches.

Substantive

the art and science of cultivating land for growing crops (farming) or raising livestock (ranching).

ambitious

Adjective

eager to achieve wealth, power, status, or a specific goal.

Noun

an hush-hush layer of stone or earth which holds groundwater.

archaeological site

Noun

place where evidence of the past is being studied past scientists.

arroyo

Noun

deep channel or canyon, ofttimes dry except during wink floods. Also called a wadi.

cobblestone

Noun

chemical compound made of dark, solid rocks and minerals often used in paving roads.

bank

Substantive

a slope of country adjoining a body of water, or a large elevated surface area of the bounding main floor.

barbed wire

Noun

twisted metal with sharpened points, often used for fences.

Noun

swampy backwater of a river or lake.

benefit

Verb

to be helpful or useful.

Bhola whirlwind

Noun

(1970) storm that caused widespread damage and death in Bangladesh and India.

brook

Noun

small flow of water, larger than a rill but smaller than a river.

buffer

Noun

a cushion or shield.

bull shark

Noun

shark able to survive in freshwater habitats.

cable

Substantive

potent set of cords or wire ropes.

canal

Noun

artificial waterway.

catastrophic

Adjective

very bad.

Noun

waterway between two relatively close land masses.

cholera

Noun

infectious, sometimes fatal disease that harms the intestines.

chronic

Adjective

recurring or happening often.

urban center

Noun

large settlement with a high population density.

urban center planner

Substantive

person who plans the physical design and zoning of an urban eye.

climate

Noun

all weather conditions for a given location over a menstruum of time.

Noun

gradual changes in all the interconnected weather elements on our planet.

littoral flooding

Substantive

process where a storm or tsunami causes the bounding main to blitz inland, as a storm surge. Besides called estuarine flooding.

Colorado River

Substantive

(ii,335 kilometers/one,450 miles) river in the western U.S. and Mexico, draining into the Gulf of California.

concern

Verb

to worry or take an interest in.

physical

Substantive

hard building cloth made from mixing cement with rock and water.

consumer

Noun

person who uses a expert or service.

contaminate

Verb

to poison or make chancy.

crest

Noun

the acme of a wave.

Substantive

agronomical produce.

Noun

steady, predictable menses of fluid within a larger body of that fluid.

cyclone

Noun

atmospheric condition organisation that rotates around a eye of low force per unit area and includes thunderstorms and rain. Usually, hurricanes refer to cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean.

dam

Noun

structure built across a river or other waterway to control the period of water.

droppings

Noun

remains of something broken or destroyed; waste, or garbage.

deliberately

Adverb

on purpose.

Noun

area of country that receives no more than 25 centimeters (x inches) of atmospheric precipitation a yr.

destructive

Adjective

harmful.

devastate

Verb

to destroy.

development

Substantive

construction or grooming of land for housing, industry, or agriculture.

Substantive

a barrier, usually a natural or artificial wall used to regulate water levels.

disable

Verb

to weaken or brand useless.

affliction

Noun

harmful condition of a body function or organ.

dispose

Verb

to throw away or get rid of.

distribute

Verb

to divide and spread out materials.

divert

Verb

to direct away from a familiar path.

domestic animal

Noun

animal that has been tamed for work or to be a pet.

domesticate

Verb

to tame or conform for man use.

Doppler radar

Substantive

atmospheric condition tracking system that reads the management and speed of moving objects, such as drops of atmospheric precipitation.

downstream

Noun

in the management of a flow, toward its end.

dredge

Verb

to remove sand, silt, or other material from the bottom of a trunk of water.

drench

Verb

to soak or cover with water.

drywall

adjective, noun

wide, apartment lath, usually fabricated of plaster or wood pulp, that is often used to construct the interior walls of buildings.

earthquake

Substantive

the sudden shaking of Earth's crust caused by the release of energy forth mistake lines or from volcanic activeness.

economic system

Noun

system of production, distribution, and consumption of appurtenances and services.

Noun

community and interactions of living and nonliving things in an expanse.

elaborate

Adjective

complex and detailed.

Noun

tiptop above or below sea level.

engineer

Substantive

person who plans the building of things, such as structures (construction engineer) or substances (chemical engineer).

enormous

Adjective

very large.

surroundings

Noun

conditions that surround and influence an organism or community.

environmentalist

Noun

person who studies or works to protect the World's ecosystems.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Noun

U.South. government system whose mission is to "protect human being health and the environment."

cock

Verb

to build or raise.

Noun

act in which earth is worn away, often by water, wind, or water ice.

guess

Verb

to approximate based on knowledge of the situation or object.

estuarine flooding

Noun

process where a storm or tsunami causes the sea to rush inland, as a storm surge. Also called coastal flooding.

evacuate

Verb

to leave or remove from a dangerous place.

evaluate

Verb

to decide something'due south worth.

Everglades

Noun

vast swampy region flowing s of Lake Okeechobee in Florida.

backlog

Noun

actress or surplus.

exclusive

Adjective

limited to a few characteristics.

extensive

Adjective

very big.

farmer

Noun

person who cultivates land and raises crops.

fertile

Describing word

able to produce crops or sustain agriculture.

Noun

region extending from the eastern Mediterranean coast through Southwest Asia to the Farsi Gulf.

wink flood

Substantive

sudden, brusque, and heavy flow of h2o.

Noun

overflow of a trunk of water onto state.

Noun

flat area alongside a stream or river that is subject to flooding.

flood phase

Substantive

level at which a river, creek, or other trunk of h2o may cause damage to lives, property, or businesses.

Substantive

all related nutrient bondage in an ecosystem. Also chosen a food cycle.

foundation

Substantive

structure on which a building is constructed.

frequent

Adjective

oftentimes.

freshwater

Noun

water that is non salty.

fuel

Substantive

material that provides power or energy.

gauge

Noun

measuring device, normally mechanical.

Noun

any arrangement for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying information related to positions on the Globe's surface.

Noun

increase in the average temperature of the Earth'southward air and oceans.

government

Substantive

system or order of a nation, state, or other political unit.

Noun

water found in an aquifer.

Noun

environment where an organism lives throughout the year or for shorter periods of time.

Noun

part of a body of water deep enough for ships to dock.

harvest

Noun

the gathering and collection of crops, including both plants and animals.

take a chance

Noun

danger or risk.

hepatitis

Noun

disease of the liver.

herd

Substantive

group of animals.

hurricane

Substantive

tropical storm with wind speeds of at least 119 kilometers (74 miles) per 60 minutes. Hurricanes are the same thing every bit typhoons, simply usually located in the Atlantic Ocean region.

Hurricane Katrina

Substantive

2005 storm that was one of the deadliest in U.Southward. history.

Noun

energy generated by moving water converted to electricity. Also known every bit hydroelectricity.

hydrologist

Substantive

person who studies the distribution, apportionment, and properties of h2o.

hygiene

Noun

scientific discipline and methods of keeping clean and salubrious.

icemelt

Noun

flowing water created by melting ice.

industry

Substantive

activity that produces goods and services.

infrastructure

Noun

structures and facilities necessary for the functioning of a society, such every bit roads.

inland

Adjective

area non most the ocean.

inlet

Noun

minor indentation in a shoreline.

insurance

Substantive

money paid in good health to guarantee financial or concrete wellness if injury or damage occurs.

intact

Adjective

whole or complete.

international

Adjective

having to exercise with more than one land.

Noun

watering land, usually for agronomics, by bogus means.

irrigation culvert

Noun

aqueduct dug betwixt a source of h2o and crops. Also called an irrigation ditch.

Noun

body of land surrounded by water.

isolate

Verb

to set one thing or organism apart from others.

Johnstown Flood

Noun

(1889, Johnstown, Pennsylvania) disaster acquired past the failure of a dam, resulting in more than than two,200 deaths.

Noun

body of water surrounded by land.

Noun

the geographic features of a region.

Noun

bank of a river, raised either naturally or constructed by people.

magnitude

Substantive

intensity of an convulsion, represented by numbers on a scale.

mainstem

Noun

largest river or channel in a watershed or drainage basin.

malaria

Noun

infectious disease caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes.

massive

Adjective

very big or heavy.

meteorologist

Noun

person who studies patterns and changes in Earth's atmosphere.

drift

Verb

to move from one place or activity to another.

minimize

Verb

to make smaller.

Mississippi River

Noun

(iii,734 kilometers/ii,320 miles) river in the central Usa.

mold

Substantive

type of fungi that forms on the surface of materials.

Substantive

seasonal change in the management of the prevailing winds of a region. Monsoon commonly refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and Southern asia, which oftentimes bring heavy rains.

mosquito

Noun

insect capable of piercing the skin and sucking the blood of animals.

mudslide

Substantive

rapid, downhill flow of soil and water. Also chosen a mudflow.

natural disaster

Noun

an event occurring naturally that has large-scale effects on the environment and people, such as a volcano, convulsion, or hurricane.

Noun

an surface area within a larger urban center or boondocks where people alive and interact with one some other.

non-porous

Adjective

not permeable by a substance such as air or water.

nonprofit organization

Substantive

business organization that uses surplus funds to pursue its goals, not to make coin.

Noun

substance an organism needs for free energy, growth, and life.

outbreak

Noun

sudden occurrence or rapid increase.

overwhelm

Verb

to completely overpower.

particularly

Adverb

specifically.

pedologist

Substantive

person who studies soil.

pesticide

Noun

natural or manufactured substance used to kill organisms that threaten agronomics or are undesirable. Pesticides tin be fungicides (which impale harmful fungi), insecticides (which kill harmful insects), herbicides (which kill harmful plants), or rodenticides (which kill harmful rodents.)

piling

Noun

construction, usually made of metallic or wood, hammered vertically into the ground to serve as a foundation or wall.

plague

Verb

to consistently bother, torment, or annoy.

power plant

Noun

industrial facility for the generation of electrical energy.

predict

Verb

to know the outcome of a situation in advance.

primarily

Adverb

first or nigh important.

prone

Adjective

vulnerable or tending to act in a certain way.

Substantive

division of a country larger than a boondocks or canton.

radically

Adverb

completely or extremely.

railway

Noun

stretch of railroad betwixt two points.

Noun

liquid precipitation.

rapid

Adjective

very fast.

real estate

Noun

property and the business of buying, selling, and developing country.

rebar

Noun

metal bar, commonly steel or concrete, used to reinforce concrete structures.

recede

Verb

to retreat or withdraw.

redistribute

Verb

to give abroad an amount of something in a different fashion.

reduce

Verb

to lower or lessen.

refugee camp

Noun

temporary shelters built for immigrants who have fled their homes due to environmental or social conflict.

remote

Adjective

distant or far away.

Noun

natural or human being-fabricated lake.

retreat

Verb

to go back to a familiar or safe place.

rice paddy

Noun

rice field.

riparian zone

Noun

area surrounding a river, stream, or other body of flowing water.

Noun

big stream of flowing fresh water.

riverine flood

Substantive

process where a river or stream overflows its banks.

rock

Noun

natural substance composed of solid mineral matter.

rugby

Noun

team sport similar to soccer, but where players are allowed to carry the ball, cake with the hands and artillery, and tackle.

Noun

overflow of fluid from a farm or industrial factory.

sand

Noun

small, loose grains of disintegrated rocks.

sandbar

Noun

underwater or low-lying mound of sand formed by tides, waves, or currents.

sedge

Noun

grass-like plant native to wetlands.

Substantive

solid material transported and deposited by water, water ice, and wind.

seedling

Noun

young tree or other plant.

seep

Verb

to slowly catamenia through a border.

semi-aquatic

Adjective

needing both a water and land environs to live and reproduce.

sewage

Noun

liquid and solid waste cloth from homes and businesses.

sewer

Noun

passageway or holding tank for liquid waste material.

shrub

Noun

type of establish, smaller than a tree merely having woody branches.

Noun

small sediment particles.

snow

Noun

amount of snowfall at a specific identify over a specific flow of time.

Noun

layers of snow that naturally build up during snowfalls.

soil

Substantive

height layer of the Earth'south surface where plants tin can grow.

solvent

Substantive

substance that dissolves some other substance.

sophisticated

Adjective

knowledgeable or complex.

steel

Noun

metallic made of the elements iron and carbon.

tempest

Noun

severe atmospheric condition indicating a disturbed land of the atmosphere resulting from uplifted air.

Noun

aberrant rise in sea level accompanying a hurricane or other intense storm. Too called a tempest tide.

Noun

body of flowing fluid.

submerge

Verb

to put underwater.

subside

Verb

to return to a lower level.

subway

Noun

underground railway; a pop form of public transportation in large urban areas.

sugar cane

Noun

alpine grass that is harvested to extract sugar from its sap or juice.

Noun

land permanently saturated with water and sometimes covered with it.

engineering science

Noun

the science of using tools and complex machines to make homo life easier or more profitable.

Thames Bulwark

Noun

flood-control projection that protects London, England, from flooding of the River Thames, fabricated of 10 moveable steel gates.

tourist

Noun

person who travels for pleasance.

toxic

Adjective

poisonous.

trigger

Verb

to cause or begin a chain of events.

tsunami

Noun

body of water waves triggered past an earthquake, volcano, or other movement of the ocean floor.

typhoid

Substantive

infectious, sometimes fatal affliction that harms the intestines. Besides called typhoid fever.

Noun

developed, densely populated area where near inhabitants have nonagricultural jobs.

vegetation

Noun

all the found life of a specific place.

Noun

small homo settlement usually found in a rural setting.

vulnerable

Describing word

capable of being hurt.

wadi

Noun

deep channel or canyon, often dry except during flash floods. Besides called an arroyo.

wading bird

Noun

bird with long, thin legs adjusted for walking and feeding in shallow h2o.

Noun

movement of water between temper, land, and sea.

waterway

Substantive

body of water that serves every bit a route for transportation.

wave

Noun

vibrations (oscillations) around a fixed location, ordinarily involving a transfer of free energy from one point to another.

Noun

state of the temper, including temperature, atmospheric pressure, air current, humidity, precipitation, and cloudiness.

Noun

the breaking down or dissolving of the Earth's surface rocks and minerals.

weather pattern

Noun

repeating or predictable changes in the World's temper, such equally winds, precipitation, and temperatures.

Noun

area of land covered past shallow water or saturated by water.

Noun

uncontrolled fire that happens in a rural or sparsely populated area.

Yu the Not bad

Noun

(220-2100 BCE) Chinese leader, engineer, and hydrologist.

Zuiderzee Works

Noun

(Netherlands) series of dams and drainage systems designed to isolate and dam the Zuiderzee, an inlet of the Due north Sea.