However, the flood waters aren't always the only issue: Death or Serious Injury The very nature of flash floods makes them fast and very difficult to predict.
Immediate Property Damage In addition to the force of the water, flash floods can carry large debris such as boulders. Long-Term Property Damage Rooms, vehicles, and other property that came in contact with flood waters may not be salvageable. Loss of Critical Infrastructure Large debris and floodwaters can cause structural damage to bridges and roadways, making travel impossible.
Uninsured or Under-insured Homeowners Being infrequent and unpredictable, many homeowners do not consider flash floods when insuring their homes. Economic Losses Depending on the damage caused, it may prevent local businesses from opening or keep customers from getting to those businesses. Impacts of a Flash Flood.
Past Flash Floods in Teton County. Arrow Left Arrow Right. In Cambodia, monsoon rains cause an annual flood pulse on the Mekong River that prompts migrations for some animals. The floodwaters cause the Tonle Sap river, which connects the Mekong River to Tonle Sap lake, to reverse its flow, filling the lake.
Sediment deposited on riverbeds during floods can provide a nursery site for small fish. Nutrients carried by floodwater can support aquatic food webs by boosting productivity. They filter water, mitigate flooding, and act as a carbon sink. The river captures rainfall from far to the north in the highlands of Angola. This causes a flood pulse that replenishes the wetlands at the height of the dry season, providing a lush oasis in the Kalahari Desert.
National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes, with a team of scientists and explorers, set out on an expedition to trace the Okavango from source to sand, in order to protect the waters of this unique habitat.
Floods are a force of nature, and their consequences, both positive and negative, are strongly felt by affected ecosystems.
Floods can be destructive to humans and the natural environment, but they also help to drive biodiversity and are essential to the functioning of many ecosystems. Whether you regard floods as good or bad, one thing is for certain: The world would be a very different place without them. Monsoon usually refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and South Asia, which often bring heavy rains.
Pesticides can be fungicides which kill harmful fungi , insecticides which kill harmful insects , herbicides which kill harmful plants , or rodenticides which kill harmful rodents. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society.
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In particular, flood damage to roads, rail networks and key transport hubs, such as shipping ports, can have significant impacts on regional and national economies. Short-term downturns in regional tourism are often experienced after a flooding event. While the impact on tourism infrastructure and the time needed to return to full operating capacity may be minimal, images of flood affected areas often lead to cancellations in bookings and a significant reduction in tourist numbers.
Flooding of urban areas can result in significant damage to private property, including homes and businesses. Losses occur due to damage to both the structure and contents of buildings. Insurance of the structure and its contents against flooding can reduce the impacts of floods on individuals or companies. In many natural systems, floods play an important role in maintaining key ecosystem functions and biodiversity.
They link the river with the land surrounding it, recharge groundwater systems, fill wetlands, increase the connectivity between aquatic habitats, and move both sediment and nutrients around the landscape, and into the marine environment.
For many species, floods trigger breeding events, migration, and dispersal. These natural systems are resilient to the effects of all but the largest floods. The environmental benefits of flooding can also help the economy through things such as increased fish production, recharge of groundwater resources, and maintenance of recreational environments. Areas that have been highly modified by human activity tend to suffer more deleterious effects from flooding.
Floods tend to further degrade already degraded systems. Removal of vegetation in and around rivers, increased channel size, dams, levee bank and catchment clearing all work to degrade the hill-slopes, rivers and floodplains, and increase the erosion and transfer of both sediment and nutrients. While cycling of sediments and nutrients is essential to a healthy system, too much sediment and nutrient entering a waterway has negative impacts on downstream water quality. Other negative effects include loss of habitat, dispersal of weed species, the release of pollutants, lower fish production, loss of wetlands function, and loss of recreational areas.
Flash floods, with little or no warning time, cause more deaths than slow-rising riverine floods. Loss of livelihoods: As communication links and infrastructure such as power plants, roads and bridges are damaged and disrupted, economic activities come to a standstill, resulting in dislocation and the dysfunction of normal life for a period much beyond the duration of the flooding. Similarly, the direct effect on production assets, be it in agriculture or industry, can inhibit regularly activity and lead to loss of livelihoods.
The spill over effects of the loss of livelihoods can be felt in business and commercial activities even in adjacent non-flooded areas. Decreased purchasing and production power: Damage to infrastructure also causes long-term impacts, such as disruptions to clean water and electricity, transport, communication, education and health care. Loss of livelihoods, reduction in purchasing power and loss of land value in the flood plains lead to increased vulnerabilities of communities living in the area.
The additional cost of rehabilitation, relocation of people and removal of property from flood-affected areas can divert the capital required for maintaining production. Mass migration: Frequent flooding, resulting in loss of livelihoods, production and other prolonged economic impacts and types of suffering can trigger mass migration or population displacement.
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