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65-690: Construction of the Banqiao dam began in April 1951 on the Ru River with the help of Soviet consultants as part of a project to control flooding and provide electrical power generation . The construction was a response to severe flooding in the Huai River Basin in 1949 and 1950. The dam was completed in June 1952. Because of the absence of hydrology data, the design standard was lower than usual. After

130-449: A dam , landslide, or glacier . In one instance, a flash flood killed eight people enjoying the water on a Sunday afternoon at a popular waterfall in a narrow canyon. Without any observed rainfall, the flow rate increased from about 50 to 1,500 cubic feet per second (1.4 to 42 m /s) in just one minute. Two larger floods occurred at the same site within a week, but no one was at the waterfall on those days. The deadly flood resulted from

195-646: 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. The amount, location, and timing of water reaching a drainage channel from natural precipitation and controlled or uncontrolled reservoir releases determines the flow at downstream locations. Some precipitation evaporates, some slowly percolates through soil, some may be temporarily sequestered as snow or ice, and some may produce rapid runoff from surfaces including rock, pavement, roofs, and saturated or frozen ground. The fraction of incident precipitation promptly reaching

260-515: A landslide , earthquake or volcanic eruption . Examples include outburst floods and lahars . Tsunamis can cause catastrophic coastal flooding , most commonly resulting from undersea earthquakes. The primary effects of flooding include loss of life and damage to buildings and other structures, including bridges, sewerage systems, roadways, and canals. The economic impacts caused by flooding can be severe. Every year flooding causes countries billions of dollars worth of damage that threatens

325-484: A tropical cyclone or an extratropical cyclone , falls within this category. A storm surge is "an additional rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides". Due to the effects of climate change (e.g. sea level rise and an increase in extreme weather events) and an increase in the population living in coastal areas, the damage caused by coastal flood events has intensified and more people are being affected. Flooding in estuaries

390-468: A country can be lost in extreme flood circumstances. Some tree species may not survive prolonged flooding of their root systems. Flooding in areas where people live also has significant economic implications for affected neighborhoods. In the United States , industry experts estimate that wet basements can lower property values by 10–25 percent and are cited among the top reasons for not purchasing

455-538: A drainage channel has been observed from nil for light rain on dry, level ground to as high as 170 percent for warm rain on accumulated snow. Most precipitation records are based on a measured depth of water received within a fixed time interval. Frequency of a precipitation threshold of interest may be determined from the number of measurements exceeding that threshold value within the total time period for which observations are available. Individual data points are converted to intensity by dividing each measured depth by

520-627: A few minutes for roof and parking lot drainage structures, while cumulative rainfall over several days would be critical for river basins. Water flowing downhill ultimately encounters downstream conditions slowing movement. The final limitation in coastal flooding lands is often the ocean or some coastal flooding bars which form natural lakes . In flooding low lands, elevation changes such as tidal fluctuations are significant determinants of coastal and estuarine flooding. Less predictable events like tsunamis and storm surges may also cause elevation changes in large bodies of water. Elevation of flowing water

585-605: A few. Gastrointestinal disease and diarrheal diseases are very common due to a lack of clean water during a flood. Most of clean water supplies are contaminated when flooding occurs. Hepatitis A and E are common because of the lack of sanitation in the water and in living quarters depending on where the flood is and how prepared the community is for a flood. When floods hit, people lose nearly all their crops, livestock, and food reserves and face starvation. Floods also frequently damage power transmission and sometimes power generation , which then has knock-on effects caused by

650-728: A home. According to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), almost 40 percent of small businesses never reopen their doors following a flooding disaster. In the United States, insurance is available against flood damage to both homes and businesses. Economic hardship due to a temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, or food shortages leading to price increases is a common after-effect of severe flooding. The impact on those affected may cause psychological damage to those affected, in particular where deaths, serious injuries and loss of property occur. Fatalities connected directly to floods are usually caused by drowning ;

715-486: A more distant point controls at higher water levels. Effective flood channel geometry may be changed by growth of vegetation, accumulation of ice or debris, or construction of bridges, buildings, or levees within the flood channel. Periodic floods occur on many rivers, forming a surrounding region known as the flood plain . 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

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780-720: A population of 130 million or more. China's medium and small rivers are considered to be the Achilles' heel in the country's river control systems. According to a report from 2010, by the Ministry of Water Resources , China has invested CN¥64.9 billion ( US$ 9.72 billion ) since the 1998 Yangtze River floods in repairing and consolidating the country's 9,197 degraded reservoirs, of which 2,397 are large or medium-sized, and 6,800 are key small reservoirs. 32°58′58″N 113°37′24″E  /  32.98278°N 113.62333°E  / 32.98278; 113.62333 Flood A flood

845-413: A thunderstorm over part of the drainage basin, where steep, bare rock slopes are common and the thin soil was already saturated. Flash floods are the most common flood type in normally-dry channels in arid zones, known as arroyos in the southwest United States and many other names elsewhere. In that setting, the first flood water to arrive is depleted as it wets the sandy stream bed. The leading edge of

910-520: A type of hybrid river/areal flooding can occur, known locally as "overland flooding". This is different from "overland flow" defined as "surface runoff". The Red River Valley is a former glacial lakebed, created by Lake Agassiz , and over a length of 550 mi (890 km), the river course drops only 236 ft (72 m), for an average slope of about 5 inches per mile (or 8.2 cm per kilometer). In this very large area, spring snowmelt happens at different rates in different places, and if winter snowfall

975-405: Is also the intentional flooding of land that would otherwise remain dry. This may take place for agricultural, military, or river-management purposes. For example, agricultural flooding may occur in preparing paddy fields for the growing of semi-aquatic rice in many countries. Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water bodies, such as a river , lake , sea or ocean. In these cases,

1040-659: Is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids ) 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 of significant concern in agriculture , civil engineering and public health . Human changes to the environment often increase the intensity and frequency of flooding. Examples for human changes are land use changes such as deforestation and removal of wetlands , changes in waterway course or flood controls such as with levees . Global environmental issues also influence causes of floods, namely climate change which causes an intensification of

1105-419: Is common when heavy flows move uprooted woody vegetation and flood-damaged structures and vehicles, including boats and railway equipment. Recent field measurements during the 2010–11 Queensland floods showed that any criterion solely based upon the flow velocity, water depth or specific momentum cannot account for the hazards caused by velocity and water depth fluctuations. These considerations ignore further

1170-493: Is commonly caused by a combination of storm surges caused by winds and low barometric pressure and large waves meeting high upstream river flows. The intentional flooding of land that would otherwise remain dry may take place for agricultural, military or river-management purposes. This is a form of hydraulic engineering . Agricultural flooding may occur in preparing paddy fields for the growing of semi-aquatic rice in many countries. Flooding for river management may occur in

1235-400: Is controlled by the geometry of the flow channel and, especially, by depth of channel, speed of flow and amount of sediments in it Flow channel restrictions like bridges and canyons tend to control water elevation above the restriction. The actual control point for any given reach of the drainage may change with changing water elevation, so a closer point may control for lower water levels until

1300-461: Is more significant to flooding within small drainage basins. The most important upslope factor in determining flood magnitude is the land area of the watershed upstream of the area of interest. Rainfall intensity is the second most important factor for watersheds of less than approximately 30 square miles or 80 square kilometres. The main channel slope is the second most important factor for larger watersheds. Channel slope and rainfall intensity become

1365-584: The Dongting and Poyang lakes, and surrounding provinces in Hubei and Hunan . The event was considered the worst southern China flood in 40 years. The floods resulted in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $ 24 billion in economic loss. Other sources report a total loss of 4,150 people, and 180 million people were affected. Around 100,000 square kilometres (25,000,000 acres) were evacuated, and 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed. The main cause of

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1430-562: The Second World War ). Floods are caused by many factors or a combination of any of these generally prolonged heavy rainfall (locally concentrated or throughout a catchment area), highly accelerated snowmelt , severe winds over water, unusual high tides, tsunamis , or failure of dams, levees , retention ponds , or other structures that retained the water. Flooding can be exacerbated by increased amounts of impervious surface or by other natural hazards such as wildfires, which reduce

1495-562: The water table is shallow, such as a floodplain , or from intense rain from one or a series of storms . Infiltration also is slow to negligible through frozen ground, rock, concrete , paving, or roofs. Areal flooding begins in flat areas like floodplains and in local depressions not connected to a stream channel, because the velocity of overland flow depends on the surface slope. Endorheic basins may experience areal flooding during periods when precipitation exceeds evaporation. Floods occur in all types of river and stream channels, from

1560-516: The 1954 Huai River great flood, the upstream reservoirs including Banqiao were extended, constructed, and consolidated. Banqiao Dam was increased in height by 3 meters (9.8 ft). The dam crest level was 116.34 meters (381.7 ft) above sea level and the crest level of the wave protection wall was 117.64 meters (386.0 ft) above sea level. The total capacity of the reservoir was 492 million m (398,000 acre feet), with 375 million m (304,000 acre feet) reserved for flood storage. The dam

1625-717: The adverse ecological impact of the inundation. That impact may also be adverse in a hydrogeological sense if the inundation lasts a long time. Examples for uncontrolled inundations are the second Siege of Leiden during the first part of the Eighty Years' War , the flooding of the Yser plain during the First World War , and the Inundation of Walcheren , and the Inundation of the Wieringermeer during

1690-423: The amount of water damage and mold that grows after an incident. Research suggests that there will be an increase of 30–50% in adverse respiratory health outcomes caused by dampness and mold exposure for those living in coastal and wetland areas. Fungal contamination in homes is associated with increased allergic rhinitis and asthma. Vector borne diseases increase as well due to the increase in still water after

1755-756: The beginning of September 1998 in China at the Yangtze River as well as the Nen River , Songhua River and the Pearl River . In the summer of 1998, China experienced severe flooding of the Yangtze River , the Nen River , the Songhua River and the Pearl River after torrential rains took place. Areas that were most threatened associated the Yangtze include the low-lying basins surrounding

1820-446: The corresponding normal high water level is 111.5 m (366 ft) above sea level. The flood control storage is 457 million m (121 billion gallons). The dam is made of clay and is 3,720 m (12,200 ft) long and 50.5 m (166 ft) high. The dam crest level is 120 m (390 ft) above sea level. The maximum discharge of the reservoir is 15,000 m (530,000 cu ft) per second. After

1885-464: The dam failure, the lower reach of the River Ru, esp. Zhumadian City, experienced several more disastrous floods. After many feasibility studies, the new Banqiao Reservoir reconstruction was listed as a key national project of The Seventh Five-Year Plan of China . The project owner was Huai River Water Resources Commission . The construction contractor was Changjiang Gezhouba Engineering Bureau . By

1950-434: The deadliest floods worldwide, showing events with death tolls at or above 100,000 individuals. Floods (in particular more frequent or smaller floods) can also bring many benefits, such as recharging ground water , making soil more fertile and increasing nutrients in some soils. Flood waters provide much needed water resources in arid and semi-arid regions where precipitation can be very unevenly distributed throughout

2015-479: The disaster of the Banqiao dam failure, the Chinese government became very focused on surveillance, repair, and consolidation of reservoir dams. China has 87,000 reservoirs across the country; most of which were built in the 1950s–1970s using low construction standards. Most of these reservoirs are in serious disrepair, posing challenges to the prevention and control of flood-triggered geological disasters in areas with

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2080-462: The end of 1986, the rebuilding project commenced. On June 5, 1993, the project was certified by the Chinese government. The reconstructed Banqiao Reservoir controls a catchment area of 768 km (297 sq mi). The maximum reserve capacity is 675 million m (178 billion gallons), a capacity increase of 34% above the capacity of the failed dam. The effective storage is 256 million m (67.6 billion gallons) and

2145-576: The field that is intended to impede the movement of the enemy. This may be done both for offensive and defensive purposes. Furthermore, in so far as the methods used are a form of hydraulic engineering, it may be useful to differentiate between controlled inundations and uncontrolled ones. Examples for controlled inundations include those in the Netherlands under the Dutch Republic and its successor states in that area and exemplified in

2210-470: The flood process; before, during and after. During floods accidents occur with falling debris or any of the many fast moving objects in the water. After the flood rescue attempts are where large numbers injuries can occur. Communicable diseases are increased due to many pathogens and bacteria that are being transported by the water .There are many waterborne diseases such as cholera , hepatitis A , hepatitis E and diarrheal diseases , to mention

2275-492: The flood thus advances more slowly than later and higher flows. As a result, the rising limb of the hydrograph becomes ever quicker as the flood moves downstream, until the flow rate is so great that the depletion by wetting soil becomes insignificant. Coastal areas may be flooded by storm surges combining with high tides and large wave events at sea, resulting in waves over-topping flood defenses or in severe cases by tsunami or tropical cyclones. A storm surge , from either

2340-482: The flood was due to above average rainfall in the region for several months before and during the summer of 1998. Most areas saw double the normal amount of rainfall during the rainy season, with certain regions seeing rainfall levels as much as nearly three times the historical average. Combined with above average rainfall since the previous winter, this pushed water levels to above cautionary levels. The floods can be split into three general stages, beginning when one of

2405-403: The floods have settled. The diseases that are vector borne are malaria , dengue , West Nile , and yellow fever . Floods have a huge impact on victims' psychosocial integrity . People suffer from a wide variety of losses and stress . One of the most treated illness in long-term health problems are depression caused by the flood and all the tragedy that flows with one. Below is a list of

2470-428: 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 these buildings are in the natural flood plains of rivers. People could avoid riverine flood damage by moving away from rivers. However, people in many countries have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile . Also,

2535-656: The form of diverting flood waters in a river at flood stage upstream from areas that are considered more valuable than the areas that are sacrificed in this way. This may be done ad hoc , or permanently, as in the so-called overlaten (literally "let-overs"), an intentionally lowered segment in Dutch riparian levees, like the Beerse Overlaat in the left levee of the Meuse between the villages of Gassel and Linden, North Brabant . Military inundation creates an obstacle in

2600-403: The land in quantities that cannot be carried within stream channels or retained in natural ponds, lakes, and human-made reservoirs . About 30 percent of all precipitation becomes runoff and that amount might be increased by water from melting snow. River flooding is often caused by heavy rain, sometimes increased by melting snow. A flood that rises rapidly, with little or no warning, is called

2665-614: The livelihood of individuals. As a result, there is also significant socio-economic threats to vulnerable populations around the world from flooding. For example, in Bangladesh in 2007, a flood was responsible for the destruction of more than one million houses. And yearly in the United States, floods cause over $ 7 billion in damage. Flood waters typically inundate farm land, making the land unworkable and preventing crops from being planted or harvested, which can lead to shortages of food both for humans and farm animals. Entire harvests for

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2730-417: The location of the flood. Damage to roads and transport infrastructure may make it difficult to mobilize aid to those affected or to provide emergency health treatment. Flooding can cause chronically wet houses, leading to the growth of indoor mold and resulting in adverse health effects, particularly respiratory symptoms. Respiratory diseases are a common after the disaster has occurred. This depends on

2795-436: The loss of power. This includes loss of drinking water treatment and water supply, which may result in loss of drinking water or severe water contamination. It may also cause the loss of sewage disposal facilities. Lack of clean water combined with human sewage in the flood waters raises the risk of waterborne diseases , which can include typhoid , giardia , cryptosporidium , cholera and many other diseases depending upon

2860-457: The period of time between observations. This intensity will be less than the actual peak intensity if the duration of the rainfall event was less than the fixed time interval for which measurements are reported. Convective precipitation events (thunderstorms) tend to produce shorter duration storm events than orographic precipitation. Duration, intensity, and frequency of rainfall events are important to flood prediction. Short duration precipitation

2925-528: The project. In 1961, after problems with the water system were revealed, Chen was brought back to help. He continued to be an outspoken critic of the system and was again removed from the project. In August 1975, the Banqiao dam collapsed, creating the third-largest flood in history which affected a total population of 10.15 million and inundated around 30 cities and counties of 12,000 square kilometers (or 3 million acres), with an estimated death toll ranging from tens of thousands to 240,000. Within eleven years of

2990-586: The result of sustained rainfall, rapid snow melt, monsoons , or tropical cyclones . However, large rivers may have rapid flooding events in areas with dry climates, since they may have large basins but small river channels, and rainfall can be very intense in smaller areas of those basins. In extremely flat areas, such as the Red River Valley of the North in Minnesota , North Dakota , and Manitoba ,

3055-480: The risks associated with large debris entrained by the flow motion. Floods can be a huge destructive power. When water flows, it has the ability to demolish all kinds of buildings and objects, such as bridges, structures, houses, trees, and cars. Economical, social and natural environmental damages are common factors that are impacted by flooding events and the impacts that flooding has on these areas can be catastrophic. There have been numerous flood incidents around

3120-454: The rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. Flooding can damage property and also lead to secondary impacts. These include in the short term an increased spread of waterborne diseases and vector-bourne disesases , for example those diseases transmitted by mosquitos. Flooding can also lead to long-term displacement of residents. Floods are an area of study of hydrology and hydraulic engineering . A large amount of

3185-497: The shore areas. Extreme flood events often result from coincidence such as unusually intense, warm rainfall melting heavy snow pack, producing channel obstructions from floating ice, and releasing small impoundments like beaver dams. Coincident events may cause extensive flooding to be more frequent than anticipated from simplistic statistical prediction models considering only precipitation runoff flowing within unobstructed drainage channels. Debris modification of channel geometry

3250-538: The smallest ephemeral streams in humid zones to normally-dry channels in arid climates to the world's largest rivers. When overland flow occurs on tilled fields, it can result in a muddy flood where sediments are picked up by run off and carried as suspended matter or bed load . Localized flooding may be caused or exacerbated by drainage obstructions such as landslides , ice , debris , or beaver dams. Slow-rising floods most commonly occur in large rivers with large catchment areas . The increase in flow may be

3315-476: The strongest subtropical highs in history arrived in the Yangtze River Basin during mid-June and lingered, providing sustained heavy rainfall for a period of roughly two weeks. As much as 1000 mm of precipitation was seen in some locations. After briefly shifting north, the same system eventually returned to the region in mid-July. Although the system had weakened, rainfall during this period

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3380-527: The supply of vegetation that can absorb rainfall. During times of rain, 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. This has been exacerbated by human activities such as draining wetlands that naturally store large amounts of water and building paved surfaces that do not absorb any water. Water then runs off

3445-440: The third most important factors for small and large watersheds, respectively. Time of Concentration is the time required for runoff from the most distant point of the upstream drainage area to reach the point of the drainage channel controlling flooding of the area of interest. The time of concentration defines the critical duration of peak rainfall for the area of interest. The critical duration of intense rainfall might be only

3510-699: The two Hollandic Water Lines , the Stelling van Amsterdam , the Frisian Water Line , the IJssel Line , the Peel-Raam Line , and the Grebbe line in that country. To count as controlled , a military inundation has to take the interests of the civilian population into account, by allowing them a timely evacuation , by making the inundation reversible , and by making an attempt to minimize

3575-441: The water cycle and sea level rise . For example, climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and stronger. This leads to more intense floods and increased flood risk. Natural types of floods include river flooding, groundwater flooding coastal flooding and urban flooding sometimes known as flash flooding. Tidal flooding may include elements of both river and coastal flooding processes in estuary areas. There

3640-459: The water had begun to subside at this point, this extra rainfall caused further damage to homes and farmland in the surrounding areas. It was also during this period that the dikes began to break, causing further death and widespread damage to property. The 1998 flood marks a turning point in China's environmental policy . Through the 1980s and early 1990s, China had not prioritized domestic environmental matters. State policy began changing in

3705-487: The water overtops or breaks levees , resulting in some of that water escaping its usual boundaries. Flooding may also occur due to an accumulation of rainwater on saturated ground. This is called an areal flood . The size of a lake or other body of water naturally varies with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt. Those changes in size are however not considered a flood unless they flood property or drown domestic animals . Floods can also occur in rivers when

3770-515: The waters in a flood are very deep and have strong currents . Deaths do not just occur from drowning, deaths are connected with dehydration , heat stroke , heart attack and any other illness that needs medical supplies that cannot be delivered. Injuries can lead to an excessive amount of morbidity when a flood occurs. Injuries are not isolated to just those who were directly in the flood, rescue teams and even people delivering supplies can sustain an injury. Injuries can occur anytime during

3835-450: The world which have caused devastating damage to infrastructure, the natural environment and human life. Floods can have devastating impacts to human societies. Flooding events worldwide are increasing in frequency and severity, leading to increasing costs to societies. Catastrophic riverine flooding can result from major infrastructure failures, often the collapse of a dam . It can also be caused by drainage channel modification from

3900-557: The world's population lives in close proximity to major coastlines , while many major cities and agricultural areas are located near floodplains . There is significant risk for increased coastal and fluvial flooding due to changing climatic conditions. Floods can happen on flat or low-lying areas when water is supplied by rainfall or snowmelt more rapidly than it can either infiltrate or run off . The excess accumulates in place, sometimes to hazardous depths. Surface soil can become saturated, which effectively stops infiltration, where

3965-444: The year and kills pests in the farming land. Freshwater floods particularly play an important role in maintaining ecosystems in river corridors and are a key factor in maintaining floodplain biodiversity . Flooding can spread nutrients to lakes and rivers, which can lead to increased biomass and improved fisheries for a few years. 1998 Yangtze River floods The 1998 China floods (1998年中国洪水) lasted from middle of June to

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4030-765: Was heavy, a fast snowmelt can push water out of the banks of a tributary river so that it moves overland, to a point further downstream in the river or completely to another streambed. Overland flooding can be devastating because it is unpredictable, it can occur very suddenly with surprising speed, and in such flat land it can run for miles. It is these qualities that set it apart from simple "overland flow". Rapid flooding events, including flash floods , more often occur on smaller rivers, rivers with steep valleys, rivers that flow for much of their length over impermeable terrain, or normally-dry channels. The cause may be localized convective precipitation (intense thunderstorms ) or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind

4095-532: Was involved in the design of the dam but he was also a vocal critic of the government's dam building policy which involved many dams in the basin. He had recommended 12 sluice gates for the Banqiao Dam but this was criticized as being excessive and the number was reduced to five. Other dams in the project, including the Shimantan Dam, had a similar reduction of safety features and Chen was removed from

4160-454: Was made of clay and was 24.5 meters (80 ft) high. The maximum discharge of the reservoir was 1,742 m (61,500 cu ft) per second. Cracks in the dam and sluice gates appeared after completion due to construction and engineering errors. They were repaired with the advice from Soviet engineers and the new design, dubbed the iron dam , was considered unbreakable. Chen Xing ( 陈惺 ), one of China's foremost hydrologists ,

4225-615: Was more intense and localized. During this second period of rain, many surrounding lakes and rivers broke record high water levels and overflowed into the Yangtze River, causing a sudden sharp rise in water levels. Another 300-500 mm of rain was seen across several areas during this second phase, causing significant damage as it flowed into villages and towns. The final period of rainfall occurred in August, with an average of 150-200 mm of rainfall seen in most regions. Although

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