Floods occur when a body of water, such as a river or lake, overflows its usual boundaries due to high water volume. They can also happen when river flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. While flood damage can be prevented by avoiding living near water, people continue to inhabit flood-prone areas because of the perceived value of being close to water. Floods can cause physical damage to structures and infrastructure, contaminate water supplies, and spread diseases. However, river floods also deposit nutrient-rich silt which benefits lowland soils. Countries manage flood-prone rivers with defenses, but emergency measures are needed when defenses fail.
Floods occur when a body of water, such as a river or lake, overflows its usual boundaries due to high water volume. They can also happen when river flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. While flood damage can be prevented by avoiding living near water, people continue to inhabit flood-prone areas because of the perceived value of being close to water. Floods can cause physical damage to structures and infrastructure, contaminate water supplies, and spread diseases. However, river floods also deposit nutrient-rich silt which benefits lowland soils. Countries manage flood-prone rivers with defenses, but emergency measures are needed when defenses fail.
Floods occur when a body of water, such as a river or lake, overflows its usual boundaries due to high water volume. They can also happen when river flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. While flood damage can be prevented by avoiding living near water, people continue to inhabit flood-prone areas because of the perceived value of being close to water. Floods can cause physical damage to structures and infrastructure, contaminate water supplies, and spread diseases. However, river floods also deposit nutrient-rich silt which benefits lowland soils. Countries manage flood-prone rivers with defenses, but emergency measures are needed when defenses fail.
Floods occur when a body of water, such as a river or lake, overflows its usual boundaries due to high water volume. They can also happen when river flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. While flood damage can be prevented by avoiding living near water, people continue to inhabit flood-prone areas because of the perceived value of being close to water. Floods can cause physical damage to structures and infrastructure, contaminate water supplies, and spread diseases. However, river floods also deposit nutrient-rich silt which benefits lowland soils. Countries manage flood-prone rivers with defenses, but emergency measures are needed when defenses fail.
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land.
Flooding may result
from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries. Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding. Effects Primary effects hysical damage ! "an damage any type of structure, including bridges, cars, buildings, sewerage systems, roadways, and canals. Secondary effects Water supplies ! "ontamination of water. "lean drinking water becomes scarce. #iseases ! $nhygienic conditions. %pread of water&borne diseases. "rops and food supplies ! %hortage of food crops can be caused due to loss of entire harvest. '() *owever, lowlands near rivers depend upon river silt deposited by floods in order to add nutrients to the local soil. Trees ! +on&tolerant species can die from suffocation. Control ,n many countries across the world, rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed. #efenses such as levees, '-) bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defenses fail, emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are used. "oastal flooding has been addressed in .urope and the Americas with coastal defences, such as sea walls, beach nourishment, and barrier islands.