How Mankind Can Cause Floods and How He Can Avoid It
Floods happen due to overflow of an expanse of water in such a way that it submerges land. Tidal waves which flow inward can be also termed as floods. Usually flooding is experienced when a water body like a river or a lake overflows or breaks levees, resulting in the water breaking ita usual boundaries, destroying property, endangering human and animal life.
Floods are caused by excessive rainfall, breakage of dams, excessive snowmelt and storm surge from hurricanes. Europe suffered from more than 100 instances of flooding between the years 1998 and 2004. In the last decade, there have been 15 instances of flooding, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina which caused intense damage to life and property. In 2009, the flash floods in Turkey claimed 31 lives and destroyed $70 million property and the Philippines floods in the same year, destroyed 464 lives.
Though we call it a natural disaster, man is responsible in some way or the other for this colossal problem. There is a rising consensus that sticks to the fact that major reasons for floods are actually deforestation and pollution. For instance, in parts of Asia and Africa, there Is large scale deforestation which paves the way for flooding to take place. In China, El Nino was blamed for causing flooding in 1998 that led to the loss of 250 million people but the real reason discovered was man-made action in the form of callous regard to environmental preservation.
It is true that urbanization happening at break-neck speed in various places in the world has led to a concrete jungle-like situation, wherein there are not enough plants and trees to retain water. There are various ways in which we can prevent floods. We need to make way for a route so that the water is drained properly. This can happen by creating flood plains and winding streams. The protection of wetlands can help maintain a natural drainage system that can augur well as a place where excess water can accumulate. These wetlands can make it easy for water to evaporate before it can accumulate.
Since water levels have changed over the years, it is important to make use of levees or ‘dikes’ to keep water bookies from overflowing its banks. Levees, used since ages, are simple man-made embankments that keep a river or ocean from flooding. These embankments are made of soil and are very effective to prevent water damage.
The other way you can prevent floods is by keeping sandbags along the riverbank to act as levees and placing huge rocks and boulders to prevent erosion. This can definitely help in preventing riverbanks from deteriorating,
You can also do a few things to minimize the damage caused by floods. You should ideally make sure that you take care of three crucial things like water, gas and electricity. Remember to turn off the main switches and controls of these three things. Make sure you are aware of the controls beforehand so that if you are confronted with such a situation, you are in a position to save lives.
