Some Of The World’s Worst Floods
According to historians, civilization started in the riverbanks and waterfronts as trade and industry flourished along bodies of water. Since time out of mind, people have lived along these bodies of water despite knowing the dangers and havoc it can bring such as floods, deaths and disease. According to wikipedia, flood is the overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. Floods happen in rivers when the capacity of the river channels exceeds the flow of water thus resulting to overflow or breakage of levees resulting to the escape of water beyond its boundaries.
China’s rivers have been responsible for some of the worst flooding in history. In 1931 the Huang He burst its banks leaving between 1-3 million people dead. In recent years the Chinese government have tried to dam the river to prevent future catastrophes but the damming has proved controversial and is not entirely the most effective flood defence measure.
On August 29, 2005, a moderate Category 1 hurricane was looming above the skies of Southern Florida. On a Monday morning of August 29, 2005, it became a Category 3 hurricane in the sleeping city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Hours of storm catastrophically flooded the entire city and floodwaters moved inland. Eventually, 80 percent of the city was under water and lingered for weeks leaving the city out-of-reach for days. Meanwhile, all the Mississippi beach front towns were 90% flooded within hours such that boats and casino barges rammed buildings, houses and cars were pushed by floodwater current inland. Hurricane Katrina brought about an estimated $81 billion worth of property damages in the Bush administration.
On Saturday, September 26, 2009, tropical storm Ondoy, considered the deadliest ever, hit the Philippines, particularly Metro Manila and Central Luzon region were submerged in deep water affecting millions of properties and thousands of families displaced. As series of flash floods occurred up to 20 feet deep in some rural areas, the destruction further increased. The Marikina River transformed the streets into rivers while the Angat Dam, a water reservoir, released about 500 cubic meters per second. At the height of the flooding, about 100,000 liters of bunker oil was spilled from a paper manufacturing company in from a nearby city, thus spilling oil all over the city. Property loss was estimated at about US$200 million and cost of restoration of infrastructure was even bigger.
European windstorms brought heavy rains and gale force winds caused heavy rains and great flooding in the Southern UK in November to December 2009. Bridges collapsed, and a number of deaths occurred. Simultaneously, Cork, Ireland’s 40 per cent population lost its water supply for almost two weeks after a treatment plant was contaminated by flood water.
After all the flooding, a monumental task for every city or country of draining the city streets looms ahead. No amount of manual labor could ever accomplish such a huge task. How could tons of flood water be evacuated out of city streets and homes?
