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63-470: When meltwater pools on the surface rather than flowing, it forms melt ponds . As the weather gets colder meltwater will often re-freeze. Meltwater can also collect or melt under the ice's surface. These pools of water, known as subglacial lakes can form due to geothermal heat and friction . Melt ponds may also form above and below Arctic sea ice , decreasing its albedo and causing the formation of thin underwater ice layers or false bottoms . Meltwater

126-449: 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

189-646: 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

252-425: A glacier . Pollution particles affect albedo by preventing sun energy from bouncing off a glacier's white, gleaming surface and instead absorbing the heat , causing the glacier to melt . Melt pond Melt ponds are pools of open water that form on sea ice in the warmer months of spring and summer. The ponds are also found on glacial ice and ice shelves . Ponds of melted water can also develop under

315-515: 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

378-779: A moraine-dammed lake that is released suddenly can result in the floods, such as those that created the granite chasms in Purgatory Chasm State Reservation . In a report published in June 2007, the United Nations Environment Programme estimated that global warming could lead to 40% of the world population being affected by the loss of glaciers, snow and the associated meltwater in Asia. The predicted trend of glacial melt signifies seasonal climate extremes in these regions of Asia. Historically Meltwater pulse 1A

441-484: 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

504-461: 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

567-538: 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

630-627: 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

693-605: 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

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756-700: A highly variable process. Cities that indirectly source water from meltwater include Melbourne , Canberra , Los Angeles , Las Vegas among others. In North America, 78% of meltwater flows west of the Continental Divide , and 22% flows east of the Continental Divide. Agriculture in Wyoming and Alberta relies on water sources made more stable during the growing season by glacial meltwater. The Tian Shan region in China once had such significant glacial runoff that it

819-721: 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 ;

882-503: A large effect on the rate of ice melting and the extent of ice cover. Melt ponds can melt through to the ocean's surface. Seawater entering the pond increases the melt rate because the salty water of the ocean is warmer than the fresh water of the pond. The increase in salinity also depresses the water's freezing point . Water from melt ponds over land surface can run into crevasses or moulins – tubes leading under ice sheets or glaciers – turning into meltwater . The water may reach

945-486: 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

1008-413: 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

1071-520: 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

1134-405: 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,

1197-419: 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

1260-493: 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

1323-400: 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

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1386-461: 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

1449-413: Is water that melts off of glaciers or snow. It then flows into a river or collects on the surface forming a melt pond, which may re-freeze. It may also collect under ice or frozen ground. Meltwater provides drinking water for a large proportion of the world's population, as well as providing water for irrigation and hydroelectric plants . This meltwater can originate from seasonal snowfall, or from

1512-554: 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

1575-562: 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

1638-687: 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

1701-423: 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

1764-434: 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

1827-806: 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 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

1890-563: 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

1953-545: The first 10 months of 2005." Ponding in the extreme is lakes and lakes in association with glaciers are examined in the particular case of the Missoula Floods . Flood A flood 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

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2016-470: 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

2079-492: 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

2142-403: 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

2205-428: 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,

2268-641: 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

2331-703: The glacial meltwater are a concern in more remote highland regions of the Andes, where the proportion of water from glacial melt is much greater than in lower elevations. In parts of the Bolivian Andes, surface water contributions from glaciers are as high as 31-65% in the wet season and 39-71% in the dry season. Glacial meltwater comes from glacial melt due to external forces or by pressure and geothermal heat . Often, there will be rivers flowing through glaciers into lakes. These brilliantly blue lakes get their color from " rock flour ", sediment that has been transported through

2394-435: The ice, which may lead to the formation of thin underwater ice layers called false bottoms . Melt ponds are usually darker than the surrounding ice, and their distribution and size is highly variable. They absorb solar radiation rather than reflecting it as ice does and, thereby, have a significant influence on Earth's radiation balance . This differential, which had not been scientifically investigated until recently, has

2457-403: 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

2520-608: 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

2583-417: 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

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2646-436: 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

2709-568: The melting of more permanent glaciers. Climate change threatens the precipitation of snow and the shrinking volume of glaciers. Some cities around the world have large lakes that collect snow melt to supplement water supply. Others have artificial reservoirs that collect water from rivers, which receive large influxes of meltwater from their higher elevation tributaries. After that, leftover water will flow into oceans causing sea levels to rise. Snow melt hundreds of miles away can contribute to river replenishment. Snowfall can also replenish groundwater in

2772-459: The melting process associated with melt ponds has a substantial effect on ice shelf disintegration . Seasonal melt ponded and penetrating under glaciers shows seasonal acceleration and deceleration of ice flows affecting whole icesheets. Accumulated changes by ponding on ice sheets appear in the earthquake record of Greenland and other glaciers: "Quakes ranged from six to 15 per year from 1993 to 2002, then jumped to 20 in 2003, 23 in 2004, and 32 in

2835-614: The meltwater levels are highest. Glacial meltwater can also affect important fisheries, such as in Kenai River , Alaska. Meltwater can be an indication of abrupt climate change . An instance of a large meltwater body is the case of the region of a tributary of Bindschadler Ice Stream, West Antarctica where rapid vertical motion of the ice sheet surface has suggested shifting of a subglacial water body. It can also destabilize glacial lakes leading to sudden floods , and destabilize snowpack causing avalanches . Dammed glacial meltwater from

2898-457: 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

2961-569: 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 ,

3024-480: 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

3087-454: 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

3150-407: The rivers to the lakes. This sediment comes from rocks grinding together underneath the glacier. The fine powder is then suspended in the water and absorbs and scatters varying colors of sunlight , giving a milky turquoise appearance. Meltwater also acts as a lubricant in the basal sliding of glaciers. GPS measurements of ice flow have revealed that glacial movement is greatest in summer when

3213-497: 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

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3276-538: 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

3339-527: 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

3402-440: 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

3465-669: 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

3528-457: The underlying rock. The effect is an increase in the rate of ice flow to the oceans, as the fluid behaves like a lubricant in the basal sliding of glaciers. The effects of melt ponds are diverse (this subsection refers to melt ponds on ice sheets and ice shelves). Research by Ted Scambos, of the National Snow and Ice Data Center , has supported the melt water fracturing theory that suggests

3591-487: 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

3654-515: 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

3717-450: 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

3780-557: 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

3843-410: Was a prominent feature of the last deglaciation and took place 14.7-14.2 thousand years ago. The snow of glaciers in the central Andes melted rapidly due to a heatwave, increasing the proportion of darker-coloured mountains. With alpine glacier volume in decline, much of the environment is affected. These black particles are recognized for their propensity to change the albedo – or reflectance – of

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3906-765: 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

3969-609: Was known as the "Green Labyrinth", but it has faced significant reduction in glacier volume from 1964 to 2004 and become more arid, already impacting the sustainability of water sources. In tropical regions, there is much seasonal variability in the flow of mountainous rivers, and glacial meltwater provides a buffer for this variability providing more water security year-round, but this is threatened by climate change and aridification . Cities that rely heavily on glacial meltwater include La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia , about 30%. Changes in

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