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Science Coronavirus Coverage How antivirals may change the course of the pandemic. Travel A road trip in Burgundy reveals far more than fine wine. Flash floods are extremely powerful. They have enough force to roll boulders, tear trees from the ground, destroy buildings and bridges, and scour out new channels. This type of flood is characterized by raging torrents that rip through river beds, urban streets, or canyons, wiping out everything in their paths.
With heights reaching 30 feet, flash floods can completely cover communities. Another reason why flash flooding is so dangerous is that it can happen with little to no warning. This is especially true when dams or levees break. They also recommend having a family or business disaster plan ready in the case of a flash flood. If you read through the above section on types of floods, you might just want to skip down to flooding effects. As we mentioned above, there are plenty of different causes of flooding.
While different flood types typically have different causes, most floods are caused by one of the following activities. Heavy rainfall is the simplest cause of flooding. This can result in floods like flash flooding. Overflowing rivers are another cause of floods. As we mentioned before, river flooding can happen when there is debris in the river or dams that block the flow of the water.
Speaking of dams, broken dams are another cause of flooding. Older infrastructure can fail when heavy rains come and water levels rise.
When dams break, they unleash torrents of water on unsuspecting households. This is part of what happened when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in Storm surge and tsunamis also cause flooding.
Storm surges from hurricanes and other tropical systems can cause sea levels to rise and cover normally dry coastal areas in several feet of water. Tsunamis on the other hand are giant waves caused by earthquakes or underwater volcanic eruptions. As these waves move inland, they build height and can push a lot of water inland in coastal areas. Channels with steep banks are also to blame for flooding. Flooding often occurs when there is fast runoff into lakes, rivers, and other basins.
This is often the case with rivers and other channels that feature steep sides. A lack of vegetation can cause flooding.
Vegetation can help slow runoff and prevent flooding. When there is a lack of vegetation, there is little to stop water from running off and overflowing river banks and streams. Melting snow and ice is another common reason for flooding.
No matter what causes of a flood, it can have devastating effects on your community. There are actually many dangerous flooding effects. Besides physical danger, floods also cause economic and social problems. The gravest effect of flooding is death.
In fact, flooding is the number one severe weather killer. Floods have claimed thousands of lives throughout history. But how does flooding kill?
Floods kill by carrying people away in fast-moving water or drowning them. It only takes six inches of water to wash a person away. Floods can also kill people by destroying buildings and creating unsafe environments.
One often-overlooked deadly effect of flooding comes from waterborne illnesses. From to , the National Weather Service recorded hundreds of flooding deaths across the United States. Texas saw most of those deaths, with the 8-year total sitting at fatalities. Since it only takes two feet of flood water to wash a car away, flooding can also cause great loss of property. This is why it is so important to avoid flooded areas when driving. Flooding also causes property damage to buildings by blowing out windows, sweeping away doors, corroding walls and foundations, and sending debris into infrastructure at a fast pace.
Not to mention the furniture and items inside a home or business that are damaged when flood waters make it inside. The economic impact of flooding can be devastating to a community. This comes from damage and disruption to things like communication towers, power plants, roads, and bridges. This brings business activities in an area to a standstill. Oftentimes, major flooding results in dislocation and dysfunction of normal life long after flood waters recede.
Flooding hinders economic growth and development because of the high cost of relief and recovery associated with floods. In frequently flooded areas, there is less likely to be any investment in infrastructure and other developed activities. Flooding can also create lasting trauma for victims. The loss of loved ones or homes can take a steep emotional toll, especially on children. While floods have many causes, there are proven flood safety and flood prevention tips to help keep families, businesses, and communities safe.
Here are some steps you can take before, during, and after flooding to keep yourself and those you care about safe. The first thing you should do before a flood is assemble an emergency kit. Your flood emergency kit should include food, water, and medicine. You should pack a supply of these items that will last each person three days. You should also put the following in your kit:. Phone Charger. First Aid Kit.
Rubber Boots and Gloves. You should also have a cell phone on hand. This way, you can communicate with your friends, family, and coworkers.
Are you located in a flood plain? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you in the case of floods. One last flood tip we recommend is to sign up for flooding notifications. Familiarize yourself with your local emergency management agency and how they communicate with your community. Do they have a mobile app you can download? Should you follow them on social media? Will an announcement about flooding air on the TV or local radio stations?
Finally, for hyperlocal weather alerts that include NWS flooding notifications, current precipitation information, and rainfall totals in your neighborhood, you should look into getting a subscription to professional-grade weather tracking software. The first level of flood watches and warnings is a flood advisory.
A Flood Advisory means you should be mindful of possible flooding because a weather event is forecast to occur that could result in flooding. A Flood Watch means you should prepare for flooding because conditions are favorable for a specific hazardous weather event to occur. A Flood Warning means a hazardous weather event with flooding is imminent or already happening. The portal is used by engineers, insurers and planners to find out what flood mapping information exists, and where, so they can better understand risks.
Researchers and consultants can learn what work has already occurred in their area of interest and identify what data may be available for use in future studies. Organisations can refine the scope of planned flood studies by understanding and applying lessons learnt from work undertaken in other regions. Others in the community can also use it to find out what flood information exists for the area that they live in. A flood study is the scientific investigation of flooding in a particular area, usually the catchment of a river system.
It may involve hydrologic and hydraulic investigations and a statistical analysis of the frequency with which floods have occurred. The purpose of a flood study is to predict the depth of water and the extent to which it will inundate the landscape in a modelled flood event.
A flood map is the result of hydrologic and hydraulic analysis by scientific subject matter experts, that takes into account many factors when developing models for various scenarios. Such factors might include: terrain, water catchments, flood marks and information from historical floods.
A map can represent the extent of a flood, the probability of that event occurring and sometimes the depth of inundation in the modelled area. While some flood studies don't include separate mapping data, maps relevant to the specific study can be found in many of the attached flood study documents. The AFSD contains general information for available studies, including the study location, date, commissioning organisation and lead consultant, and metadata on flood studies and information on flood risk.
The metadata is created through a purpose-built data entry application, and adheres to the Flood Studies Data Model XML schema which can be used by data custodians to structure and share their flood information with the portal via webservices. Where available, these can be downloaded directly from the Details section in the Australian Flood Risk Information Portal once you have identified a study you are interested in.
If the study you're interested in has no downloads, you will need to contact the commissioning organisation identified in the study record to determine if a copy of the report is available. Contact your local State Emergency Services if you require assistance in the event of a flood.
The portal is maintained by Geoscience Australia. Unless otherwise noted, all information is available for re-use under Creative Commons 4. Users of the database should refer to each specific flood study report to determine any constraints in its usage.
Your feedback is input to the continued development of the database and the portal. Please share your feedback via the portal's feedback button. Some of the flood studies contained in the database may be incomplete or may have been superseded by new material.
Issues with the accuracy of the study itself should be referred to the commissioning organisation, typically a local council or state government agency.
However, where incorrect information is displayed in the portal about a flood study, please share your feedback via the portal's feedback button. Registered data custodians can add flood studies and maps to the portal. Please notify Geoscience Australia via the portal's feedback button of any other published flood studies that aren't currently included in the database, but may be suitable for release through the portal.
Water Observations from Space WOfS is a web service displaying historical surface water observations derived from satellite imagery for all of Australia from to present day. WOfS aims is to allow better understanding of where water is usually present; where it is seldom observed; and where inundation of the surface has been occasionally observed by satellite. WOfS displays the detected surface water from the Australia-wide Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellite imagery archive.
The WOfS project began in and included staged releases of information and a trial product. The development of this product is now complete. Data will continue to be updated every three months.
WOfS uses the Datacube application at the National Computational Infrastructure for the storage , organisation and analysis of satellite data. Use the Water Observations from Space application to view surface water observed by the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites for all of Australia from to present.
Find out more about the WOfS product, how it was developed and its role in the broader flood mapping toolkit. For a detailed technical description of the product, see the Water Observations from Space Product Description. Answer your questions about the WOfS product, how Geoscience Australia is using satellites to observe surface water, and the uses and limitations of the product.
Learn how to use the WOfS tool and find out more about how to better understand your search results.
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