NATURAL HAZARDS

FLOODS

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually

dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the
inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the
discipline hydrology and are of significant concern in agriculture, civil
engineering and public health.

Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water bodies, such as

a river, lake, or ocean, in which the water overtops or breaks levees,
resulting in some of that water escaping its usual boundaries, or it may
occur due to an accumulation of rainwater on saturated ground in an
areal flood. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with
seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, these changes in size
are unlikely to be considered significant unless they
flood property or drown domestic animals.
Floods can also occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity
of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway.
Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the
natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be
eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people
have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually
flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to
commerce and industry.
Some floods develop slowly, while others can develop in just a few
minutes and without visible signs of rain. Additionally, floods can be
local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, affecting
entire river basins.

Flooding is an overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry. Floods

can happen during heavy rains, when ocean waves come on shore,
when snow melts too fast, or when dams or levees break. Flooding may
happen with only a few inches of water, or it may cover a house to the
rooftop. They can occur quickly or over a long period and may last days,
weeks, or longer. Floods are the most common and widespread of all
weather-related natural disasters.
Flash floods are the most dangerous kind of floods, because they
combine the destructive power of a flood with incredible speed and
unpredictability. Flash floods occur when excessive water fills normally
dry creeks or river beds along with currently flowing creeks and rivers,
causing rapid rises of water in a short amount of time. They can happen
with little or no warning.

CAUSES
Floods are caused by many factors: heavy precipitation, severe winds
over water, unusual high tides, tsunamis, or failure of dams, levels,
retention ponds, or other structures that contained the water.

Periodic floods occur on many rivers, forming a surrounding region

known as the flood plain.
During times of rain or snow, some of the water is retained in ponds or
soil, some is absorbed by grass and vegetation, some evaporates, and
the rest travels over the land as surface runoff. Floods occur when
ponds, lakes, riverbeds, soil, and vegetation cannot absorb all the water.
Water then runs off the land in quantities that cannot be carried within
stream channels or retained in natural ponds, lakes, and man-made
reservoirs. About 30 percent of all precipitation is in the form of runoff
small and that amount might be increased by water from melting snow.
River flooding is often caused by heavy rain, sometimes increased by
melting snow. Aflood that rises rapidly, with little or no advance warning,
is called a flash flood. Flash floods usually result from intense rainfall
over a relatively small area, or if the area was already saturated from
previous precipitation.

Even when rainfall is relatively light, the shorelines of lakes and bays can
be flooded by severe winds—such as during hurricanes—that blow
water into the shore areas.

EFFECTS
Flooding has many impacts. It damages property and endangers the
lives of humans and other species. Rapid water runoff causes soil
erosion and concomitant sediment deposition elsewhere (such as further
downstream or down a coast). The spawning grounds for fish and other
wildlife habitats can become polluted or completely destroyed. Some
prolonged high floods can delay traffic in areas which lack elevated
roadways. Floods can interfere with drainage and economic use of
lands, such as interfering with farming. Structural damage can occur in
bridge abutments, bank lines, sewer lines, and other structures within
floodways. Waterway navigation and hydroelectric power are often
impaired. Financial losses due to floods are typically millions of dollars
each year.

In many natural systems, floods play an important role in maintaining key

ecosystem functions and biodiversity. They link the river with the land
surrounding it, recharge groundwater systems, fill wetlands, increase the
connectivity between aquatic habitats, and move both sediment and
nutrients around the landscape, and into the marine environment. For
many species, floods trigger breeding events, migration, and dispersal.
These natural systems are resilient to the effects of all but the largest
floods.

The environmental benefits of flooding can also help the economy

through things such as increased fish production, recharge of
groundwater resources, and maintenance of recreational environments.

Areas that have been highly modified by human activity tend to suffer
more deleterious effects from flooding. Floods tend to further degrade
already degraded systems. Removal of vegetation in and around rivers,
increased channel size, dams, levee bank and catchment clearing all
work to degrade the hill-slopes, rivers and floodplains, and increase the
erosion and transfer of both sediment and nutrients.

While cycling of sediments and nutrients is essential to a healthy system,

too much sediment and nutrient entering a waterway has negative
impacts on downstream water quality. Other negative effects include
loss of habitat, dispersal of weed species, the release of pollutants,
lower fish production, loss of wetlands function, and loss of recreational
areas.

Many of our coastal resources, including fish and other forms of marine
production, are dependent on the nutrients supplied from the land during
floods. The negative effects of floodwaters on coastal marine
environments are mainly due to the introduction of excess sediment and
nutrients, and pollutants such as chemicals, heavy metals and debris.
These can degrade aquatic habitats, lower water quality, reduce coastal
production, and contaminate coastal food resources.
BIHAR FLOODS – JULY 2019

While most floods are typically caused by heavy rainfall in that particular
region, the floods in Bihar preceded monsoon rains in the state. Instead,
the flooding began due to a downpour in Nepal, with which Bihar shares
its northern border.

Between July 11 and 12, 2019, Nepal’s Simara weather station recorded
a total of 478.40 mm rainfall, which is more than two-thirds the amount of
rain it normally receives in the entire month of July (580.2mm).
Subsequently, all 56 sluice gates of the Kosi barrage were opened, and
three lakh cusecs of water was released towards Bihar.

The heavy discharge of water was augmented by the arrival of very

heavy rains—on July 12 and 13, the northern Bihari districts witnessed
extremely heavy downpour that ended up breaking a 54-year-old state
record of heavy rainfall in 24 hours.

These conditions collectively led to sudden rise in the water levels of

rivers Kosi, Bagmati, Kamka Balan, Gandak, Budhi Gandak and their
tributaries. The excess water wreaked havoc in 12 districts across
northern Bihar, as the floodwater breached the river embankments and
damaged crops, roads, and bridges.
As per a report released on July 30, the death toll caused by flooding
events throughout the month had risen to 130. Inundation affected a
total of 88.46 lakh people in 1269 panchayats across 13 districts.

KERELA FLOODS – AUGUST 2019

The state of Kerala was on the receiving end of heavy rainfall from
August 8, 2019 onwards. The downpour continued for the next few days,
causing floods and landslides in many parts while severely affecting
people’s lives.

Red alerts were issued in multiple districts across the state, and
authorities warned people to take action and protect themselves from the
rains. The northern districts of Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode
bore the brunt of the rain’s fury, effectively recording the maximum
number of deaths in the state.

As of August 19, 2019, the floods had killed 121 people and injured 40 in

several flood-related incidents. A further 21 were reported missing. Over
26,000 people were taken to refugee camps, as floods destroyed close
to 1,800 houses. The highest number of deaths were recorded in the
Malappuram district (58), followed by Kozhikode (17) and Wayanad (12).

Heavy rain affected air and railway transportation services in the state as
well. The Cochin airport was completely inundated, with its runway and
apron area submerged under water. At least eight aircrafts were left
stranded. On the other hand, waterlogging, landslides, and fallen trees
led to the diversion and cancelation of multiple trains.

As the floods subsided, 83 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

teams were deployed in addition to the 173 teams of Army, Navy, Air
Force, and Coast Guard for relief operations. Lakhs of civilian volunteers
and fishermen from coastal Kerala also took part in clean-up operations.
The total damage caused by these floods is yet to be estimated.

CONTROL
Some methods of flood control have been practiced since ancient
times.1 These methods include planting vegetation to retain extra
water, terracing hillsides to slow flow downhill, and the construction of
floodways (man-made channels to divert floodwater).1 Other techniques
include the construction of levees, dikes, dams, reservoirs1 or retention
ponds to hold extra water during times of flooding.
METHODS OF CONTROL
In many countries, rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed.
Defences such as levees, bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to
prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defences fail,
emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are
used. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe and the Americas
with coastal defences, such as sea walls, beach nourishment, and
barrier islands.
A dike is another method of flood protection. A dike lowers the risk of
having floods compared to other methods. It can help prevent damage;
however it is better to combine dikes with other flood control methods to
reduce the risk of a collapsed dike.

A weir, also known as a lowhead dam, is most often used to

create millponds, but on the Humber River in Toronto, a weir was built
near Raymore Drive to prevent a recurrence of the flooding caused
by Hurricane Hazel in 1954, which destroyed nearly two fifths of the
street.