FLOODS:

Flooding happens during heavy rains, when rivers overflow, when ocean waves come onshore, when snow melts too fast or when dams or levees break. Flooding may be only a few inches of water or it may cover a house to the rooftop. Floods that happen very quickly are called flashfloods. Flooding is the most common of all natural hazards. Flooding is generally defined as any abnormally high stream flow that overtops the natural or artificial banks of a stream. Flooding is a natural characteristic of rivers.

Types of Flood

There are two basic types of floods. In a regular river flood, water slowly climbs over the edges of a river. The more dangerous type, a flash flood, occurs when a wall of water quickly sweeps over an area.

• Flash Floods: Very intense storms, dropping large amounts of rain within a given period. Dam damage or breakage or ice jams can lead to flash floods, depending on the local terrain, ground cover, degree of urbanization, amount of man made changes to the natural bank, and initial picture or river conditions. Flash floods occur with little warning or no warning and can reach full peak in only few minutes causing a devastation destruction

• Inland Flooding: Hurricanes produce storm surges, tornadoes, and often the most deadly of all. It can be a major threat to  communities hundred of miles from the coast as can intense rain falls from these huge tropical air masses.