Floods are caused when an area receives too much excess water and its natural watercourses do not have the capacity to hold this water, which means that the surrounding land, which usually are dry, would be flooded. There are several reasons why flooding occurs, including: heavy rainfall (sometimes from cyclones and hurricanes), rising rivers, areas of ice melting, tides, and tsunamis. Floods mostly target low-lying areas near bodies of water. The images below show the differences between an area of normal water level, and a flooded area.
There are quite a few forms a flood can take:
- Local flooding: is usually restricted to small areas, and usually involves small creeks.
- minor flooding: does not cause much damage, but may be inconvenient for people in that area.
- flash flooding: A sudden flood of great volume, usually caused by a heavy rain. These floods usually don't last very long, but cause heavy damage.
- major flooding: involves large areas, and causes extensive damage that can kill people and livestock.
Floods can cause damage in two ways:
- Plain water damage: the waters just flood everything they come in contact with. The water is calm and does not wash things away.
- Rushing Water damage: the floods head in one direction, and they bring anything in their path along with them. These floods usually kill people and animals.
- Flash floods don't last very long, and some may only exist for minutes.
- Other floods don't come so quickly. Some may take days, or even years to build up and cause damage.
