Flood

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A flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. 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 normal boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Floods can also occur in rivers, when the strength of the river is so high it flows out of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders and causes damage to homes and businesses along such 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.

The word "flood" comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages (compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float). The specific term "The Flood," capitalized, usually refers to the great Universal Deluge described in the Bible, in Genesis, and is treated at Deluge.

For more information about Flood, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with flood

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MIT scientists pinpoint origin of dissolved arsenic in Bangladesh drinking water

Scientists pinpoint origin of dissolved arsenic in Bangladesh drinking water

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 15, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (21) | comments 1

Researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering believe they have pinpointed a pathway by which arsenic may be contaminating the drinking water in Bangladesh, a phenomenon that has puzzled ...


More than 18 million cubic metres of sand are set to be poured onto the new coastal band of dunes until 2011

Dutch build more dunes against rising seas

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

On the beach at Monster, bulldozers painstakingly turn sand dredged from the bottom of the North Sea bed into dunes in an ambitious effort to safeguard the Netherlands from flooding.


Satellite imagery confirms Ida's low is finally moving away from the east coast

Satellite imagery confirms Ida's low is finally moving away from the east coast

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Satellite imagery and weather ground station readings today along the Mid-Atlantic indicate "Ida the coastal low pressure area" is finally moving away from the U.S. east coast.





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TRMM satellite mapped 'Ida the Low's' rainfall from space

TRMM satellite mapped 'Ida the Low's' rainfall from space (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as "TRMM" has the ability to measure rainfall from space, and assessed the heavy rainfall from last week's coastal low pressure area, formerly known ...


Ida now a coastal low assaulting the Mid-Atlantic

Ida now a coastal low assaulting the Mid-Atlantic

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that's been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, November 10. The Geostationary ...


The GOES-12 satellite sees Large Hurricane Ida nearing landfall

The GOES-12 satellite sees Large Hurricane Ida nearing landfall

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Residents of the U.S. Gulf coast thought they were getting a break this hurricane season until Ida showed up. Today, November 9, Ida is a hurricane and is headed for a landfall in the western Florida Panhandle ...


Global warming may require higher dams, stilts (AP)

Global warming may require higher dams, stilts

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (9) | comments 6

(AP) -- With the world losing the battle against global warming so far, experts are warning that humans need to follow nature's example: Adapt or die.


GOES satellite sees bulk of Ida's clouds and rain inland while center making landfall

GOES satellite sees bulk of Ida's clouds and rain inland while center making landfall

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Tropical Storm Ida made landfall around 6:40 a.m. ET this morning on Dauphin Island, along the Alabama coastline. NASA's GOES Project created the latest image from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite ...


With amino acid diet, mice improve after brain injury

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Neurology researchers have shown that feeding amino acids to brain-injured animals restores their cognitive abilities and may set the stage for the first effective treatment for cognitive impairments suffered by people with ...


As robots become more common, Stanford experts consider the legal challenges

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- They already detect and defuse bombs, control traffic patterns and do some basic household chores. And scientists predict that pretty soon, robots will be using artificial intelligence to play a larger role ...


Cholera bacteria show adaptability to changing environments

Cholera bacteria show adaptability to changing environments

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 7 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The deadly bacterium behind cholera epidemics spends only a fraction of its life infecting humans. Most of the time, Vibrio cholerae lurks in estuaries and other semisalty aquatic habitats.


Beyond genomics, biologists and engineers decode the next frontier

Beyond genomics, biologists and engineers decode the next frontier

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton biologists and engineers has dramatically improved the speed and accuracy of measuring an enigmatic set of proteins that influences almost every aspect of how cells and ...


Good stress response enhances recovery from surgery, study shows

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The right kind of stress response in the operating room could lead to quicker recovery for patients after knee surgery, according to a new study led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. The results could ...



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