A flood (in Old English flod, a word common to Teutonic languages; compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float) is an overflow of water, an expanse of water submerging land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the word is applied to the inflow of the tide, as opposed to the outflow or "ebb". The Flood, the great Universal Deluge of myth and perhaps of history is treated as Deluge in mythology. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A falling water droplet Water (from the Anglo-Saxon and Low German wæter) is a colourless, tasteless, and odourless substance that is essential to all known forms of life and is the most universal solvent. ... This article is about tides in the ocean. ... This article is on mythology involving great floods. ...

Flooding in Asheville, North Carolina in July 1916

In many arid regions of the world, the soil has very poor water retention characteristics, or the amount of rainfall exceeds the ground's ability to absorb water. When a rainfall does occur, it can sometimes result in a sudden flood of water filling dry streambeds known as a "flash flood". The southeast floods of 1916 The Spring Street approach to Smiths Bridge in Asheville, North Carolina From: The Floods of July, 1916, published by Southern Railway Company, 1917 Image ID: wea00726, Historic NWS Collection Photographer: Archival Photography by Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS Picture from the NOAA Photo Library (actual... The southeast floods of 1916 The Spring Street approach to Smiths Bridge in Asheville, North Carolina From: The Floods of July, 1916, published by Southern Railway Company, 1917 Image ID: wea00726, Historic NWS Collection Photographer: Archival Photography by Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS Picture from the NOAA Photo Library (actual... For the heavy metal band see Soil (band) Soil is the layer of minerals and organic matter, in thickness from centimetres to a metre or more, on the land surface. ... Rain falling Rain on an umbrella Rain is a form of precipitation, as are snow, sleet, hail, and dew. ... Flash flooding is rapid flooding of low-lying areas, rivers and creeks that is caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ...

Many rivers that flow over relatively flat land border on broad flood plains. When heavy rainfall or melting snow causes the river's depth to increase and the river to overflow its banks, a vast expanse of shallow water can rapidly cover the adjacent flood plain. Flooding deposits silt on the flood plain, improving its fertility. Throughout history, this has attracted agriculture and other human development. In order to preserve these farms and cities, some rivers prone to flooding have had extensive and elaborate systems of dikes constructed along their shores and surrounding nearby cities. Unfortunately, by restraining flood waters, these dikes can result in much greater flooding downstream and in locations where they break. The control of annual flooding, by dikes and by dams, also prevents the deposition of silt on the rich farmlands and can result in their eventual depletion. The annual cycle of flood and farming was of great significance to many early farming cultures, most famously to the ancient Egyptians of the Nile river and to the Mesopotamians of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. For the Second World War frigate class, see River class frigate The Murray River in Australia A waterfall on the Ova da Fedoz, Switzerland A river is a large natural waterway. ... Flood Plain along Lynches River Johnsonville, South Carolina Showing high water mark on tupelo and cypress trees In geography, a flood plain is a plain formed of sediment, typically dropped by a river. ... The bed of a stream or river or creek is the physical confine of the normal water flow. ... Silt refers to soil or rock particles of a certain very small size range (see grain size). ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... Development has meaning in several contexts: Biological development of embryos in the context of developmental biology Child development or post-natal human development (pediatrics, etc) Personal development (New Age self improvement) Economic development in economics and international relations Human development - to improve the health, education and range of choices of... A dyke (or dike) is a stone or earthen wall constructed as a defence or as a boundary. ... Scrivener Dam, Canberra Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood event A dam (a common Teutonic word, compare to Dutch dam, Swedish and German damm, and the Gothic verb faurdammjan, to block up) is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow... The Arab Republic of Egypt, commonly known as Egypt, (in Arabic: مصر, romanized Miṣr or Maṣr, in Egyptian dialect) is a republic mostly located in north-eastern Africa. ... There is also Nile, a death metal band from South Carolina, USA. The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin Africa Mouth the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The... Mesopotamia ( Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers or the Aramaic name Beth-Nahrin two rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... The Tigris (Old Persian: Tigr, Syriac Aramaic: Deqlath, Arabic: دجلة, Dijla, Turkish: Dicle; biblical Hiddekil) is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Anatolia through Iraq. ... The Euphrates (the traditional Greek name for the river, which is in Old Persian Ufrat, Aramaic Prâth/Frot, in Arabic الفرات, in Turkish Fırat and in ancient Assyrian language Pu-rat-tu) is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (Bethnahrin in Aramaic), the other being the...

Main causes

Monsoon rainfalls can cause disastrous flooding in some equatorial countries, such as Bangladesh, due to their extended periods of rainfall. A monsoon is a periodic wind, especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia. ... The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh (Bangla: গনপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলােদশ) is a country in South Asia that forms the eastern part of the ancient region of Bengal. ... In meteorology, precipitation is any kind of water that falls from the sky as part of the weather. ...

Hurricanes have a number of different features which, together, can cause devastating flooding. One is waves of up to 8 metres high, caused by the leading edge of the hurricane when it moves from sea to land. Another is the large amounts of precipitation associated with hurricanes. The eye of a hurricane has extremely low pressure, so sea level may rise a few metres in the eye of the storm. This type of coastal flooding occurs regularly in Bangladesh. This article is about weather phenomena. ... Waves may refer to different topics including: Waves, the natural phenomenon WAVES, the womens unit of the US Navy during World War II. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... In meteorology, precipitation is any kind of water that falls from the sky as part of the weather. ... Sunset at sea A sea is a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, or a large, usually saline, lake that lacks a natural outlet such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea. ... A coastal image featured on a United States postal stamp. ...

Under some rare conditions associated with heat waves, flash floods from quickly melting mountain snow has caused loss of property and life. A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by excessive humidity. ... Flash flooding is rapid flooding of low-lying areas, rivers and creeks that is caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ... This page is about the form of precipitation. ...

Undersea earthquakes, eruptions of island volcanos that form a caldera, (such as Thera or Krakatau) and (marine landslip on continental shelf) may all engender a tidal wave called a tsunami that causes destruction to coast areas. See the tsunami article for full details of these marine floods. View from the top of Thira Santorini is a small, circular group of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea, 75 km south-east of the Greek mainland, (latitude: 35. ... An early 19th century image of Krakatoa. ... The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ... The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ...

Floods are the most frequent type of disaster worldwide.

Flood defenses, planning, and management

In western countries, rivers prone to flooding are often carefully managed. Defences such as levees, bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to prevent rivers from bursting their banks. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe with coastal defenses, such as sea walls and beach nourishment. London is protected from flooding by a huge mechnical barrier across the River Thames, which is raised when the water level reaches a certain point (see Thames Barrier). Venice, Italy has a similar arrangement, although it is already unable to cope with very high tides, and will become increasingly inadequate if anticipated rises in sea level occur. The biggest and most elaborate flood defences can be found in the Netherlands, where they are referred to as Delta Works with the Oosterscheldedam as its crowning achievement. This article is about the type of dam. ... The word may have one of the following meanings. ... A reservoir (French: réservoir) is an artificial lake created by flooding land behind a dam. ... The bridge and weir mechanism at Sturminster Newton on the River Stour, Dorset. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Coastal defenses are objects and engineering techniques used to defend coasts against erosion and flooding. ... A seawall is a form of hard coastal defense that are constructed on the inland part of a coast to reduce the effects of strong waves, typically to defend the coast around a town or harbour from erosion. ... Beach Nourishment, a process in which sand or sediments lost by longshore drifts or erosion are replaced on a certain area of a beach. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ... Length 346 km Elevation of the source 110 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 12935 km² Origin Kemble Mouth North Sea Basin countries England This article is about the River Thames in southern England. ... The Thames Barrier is a flood control structure on the River Thames at Woolwich Reach in London. ... Venice is known for its waterways and gondolas Gondola. ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ... Oosterscheldekering In the North Sea Flood of 1953 a break in the dikes and seawalls in the Netherlands killed 1,835 people and forced the evacuation of 70,000 more. ... Satellite image of the Scheldt delta showing the Oosterschelde estuary (i) The Oosterschelde (Eastern Scheldt) is an estuary in Zeeland, the Netherlands, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen on the north and Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland on the south. ...

In some flood-prone areas with high population density, such as Holland and parts of England, planning laws have been used to prevent building on flood plains. In some cases, pressure from developers has caused these controls to be eroded, with an increasing number of new developments reliant on artificial defences for protection from floodwaters. This article is about the region in the Netherlands. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Flood Plain along Lynches River Johnsonville, South Carolina Showing high water mark on tupelo and cypress trees In geography, a flood plain is a plain formed of sediment, typically dropped by a river. ...

Bangladesh has not experienced catastrophic coastal flooding since 1995, but the country relies heavily on foreign support and technology to combat flooding. The United States has donated hurricane shelters to the country, and India provides the Bangladesh government with weather forecasting to give the country time to plan its response to hurricanes. 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... The Republic of India is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of more than one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. ...

Significant prehistorical floods

In prehistoric times, several great floods are known or suspected to have occurred with varying amounts of supporting evidence. These include:

• The flooding of the Mediterranean Sea about 5 million years ago. It had previously become a desert after continental movement had closed the Strait of Gibraltar (variously placed at 8 million or 5.5 million years ago).
• The flooding of the Black Sea, caused by rising level of the Mediterranean as the last ice age ended (circa 5600 BC).
• As the ice age ended in North America, there was a great flood caused by the breaking of the ice dams holding Lake Agassiz.
• The Missoula Floods of Washington, also caused by breaking ice dams.

See Deluge (prehistoric) for a more complete and detailed listing.-1... The Strait of Gibraltar as seen from space. ... Satellite view of the Black Sea, taken by NASA MODIS Cities of the Black Sea The Black Sea (known as the Euxine Sea in the antiquity) is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... (7th millennium BC – 6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – other millennia) Events c. ... World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Eurasia and Africa. ... Lake Agassiz was an immense lake—bigger than all of the present-day Great Lakes combined—in the center of North America, which was fed by glacial runoff at the end of the last ice age. ... Glacial Lake Columbia (west) and Glacial Lake Missoula (east) are shown south of Cordilleran Ice Sheet. ... At the most recent glacial maximum, so much of the planets water was locked up in the vast ice-sheets that formed ice domes kilometres thick, that the sea level dropped by about 120 to 130 metres. ...

Significant modern floods

• The 2002 European flood was a flooding disaster that affected many states including Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. Historical cities like Prague and Dresden were partly flooded. In Germany the so called "Jahrhundertflut" (flood of century) caused a 22,6 billion Euro damage.
• The 2000 Mozambique flood, caused by heavy rains followed by a cyclone, covered much of the country for three weeks, killing thousands, leaving the country devastated for years afterwards.
• The Great Flood of 1993 was the greatest flooding disaster in United States history.
• In 1975 a freak typhoon destroyed over sixty dams in China's Henan Province, killing over 200,000 people. (see Banqiao Dam)
• In 1972 Hurricane Agnes caused 122 deaths, mostly from the overflowing of rivers in New York and Pennsylvania.
• The North Sea Flood of 1953 caused over 2,000 deaths in the Dutch province of Zeeland and the United Kingdom and led to the construction of the Delta Works and the Thames Barrier.
• The 1931 Huang He flood caused between 800,000 and 4,000,000 deaths in China, one of a series of disasterous floods on the Huang He.

In August of 2002 a 100-year flood caused by over a week of continuous heavy rains ravaged Europe, killing dozens, dispossessing thousands, and causing damages of billions of dollars in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. ... National motto: Truth prevails (Czech: Pravda vítězí) Official language Czech Capital Praha (Prague) President Václav Klaus Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 114th 78,866 km² 2% Population  - Total (2003)  - Density Ranked 76th 10. ... The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ... The Republic of Poland, a democratic country with a population of 38,626,349 and area of 312,685 km², is located in Central Europe, between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and... Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... Brühls Terrace and the Frauenkirche Dresden [ˈdreːsdn̩] (Sorbian/Lusatian Drježdźany), the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. ... The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. ... The 2000 Mozambique flood was a humanitarian disaster which occurred in February 2000. ... In meteorology, a cyclone is the rotation of a volume of air about an area of low atmospheric pressure. ... The Great Flood of 1993 was a huge flood that occurred in the American Midwest in 1993. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Not to be confused with the unrelated provinces of Hainan and Hunan Henan (Chinese: 河南; pinyin: Hénán; Wade-Giles: Ho-nan), is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. ... The Banqiao Reservoir Dam (板桥水库大坝) and Shimantan Reservoir Dam (石漫滩水库大坝) are among 62 dams in Zhumadian Prefecture of Chinas Henan Province that failed catastrophically in 1975 during a freak typhoon. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Hurricane Agnes approaching Florida Hurricane Agnes was a hurricane that occurred in 1972. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... State nickname: The Keystone State Other U.S. States Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Governor Ed Rendell Official languages None Area 119,283 km² (33rd)  - Land 116,074 km²  - Water 3,208 km² (2. ... The North Sea Flood of 1953 and associated storm was a major natural disaster which affected the coastlines of the United Kingdom and The Netherlands on the night of 31 January 1953 – 1 February 1953. ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... Oosterscheldekering In the North Sea Flood of 1953 a break in the dikes and seawalls in the Netherlands killed 1,835 people and forced the evacuation of 70,000 more. ... The Thames Barrier is a flood control structure on the River Thames at Woolwich Reach in London. ... The 1931 Huang He floods (Yellow River Floods)are generally thought to be the deadliest natural disaster of historic times, and almost certainly of the twentieth century (when pandemics are discounted). ... The Great Wall of China, stretching over 6,700 km, was erected beginning in the 3rd century BC to guard the north from raids by men on horses. ... For other Yellow Rivers, see Yellow River (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Deluge (mythology)
• Drought
• Hydrography
• Trasvasement
• Meteorology
• Flash flood

This article is on mythology involving great floods. ... A drought is an extended period where water availability falls below the statistical requirements for a region. ... Hydrography is the measurement of physical characteristics of waters and marginal land. ... A transvasement is an artificial passing of water from one river basin to another one, to solve problems of hydrographic imbalance. ... Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... Flash flooding is rapid flooding of low-lying areas, rivers and creeks that is caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ...

External links

• Catastrophic flood database (http://www.sentex.net/~tcc/cfdb.html)
• Middlesex University Flood Hazard Research Centre (http://www.fhrc.mdx.ac.uk/)