Flooding & Flooding Solutions
Essay #4
What is flooding? Flooding is when a place or area is covered or submerged with water. There are many things that cause flooding. That includes heavy rainfall, which can cause rivers to overflow and devastate a whole community. Another culprit to flooding is hard dry soil. When the soil has not been replenished in a long period of time, it cannot absorb the downpour rapidly enough. Building on flood plains is also a growing concern. Floodplains are flat areas of land with higher elevation on both sides. After it rains it is a place where unwelcomed floodwaters are kept. If there is construction in floodplains it will only be destroyed by incoming water. Lastly steep slopes also contribute to flooding. When it rains, the water runs down the slope to a river. But if it is raining very hard it could lead to mudslides, and flooding of the river. Which brings me into possible solutions to these complications. One solution could be to build dams to hold back the floodwaters. Another solution would be straightening rivers to increase the speed of the river to remove water from affected areas. Levees and embankments can prevent rivers from overflowing by increasing the height of the riverbanks to allow more water to be contained. Dredging can make a channel deeper, and free of sediment so it can contain more water. But these solutions have its disadvantages. One downside to all these solutions is that they are expensive to maintain and build. Second, even though a flood happening is less eventful, it is more hazardous if it does occur. For example if a flood hits and the dam cannot support all the incoming water. There would be havoc. Another obstacle is that these engineering defenses can disrupt natural processes such as crops being fertilized by silt. That was a brief description of what causes flooding, and how to prevent it from happening.
Sources:
What is flooding? Flooding is when a place or area is covered or submerged with water. There are many things that cause flooding. That includes heavy rainfall, which can cause rivers to overflow and devastate a whole community. Another culprit to flooding is hard dry soil. When the soil has not been replenished in a long period of time, it cannot absorb the downpour rapidly enough. Building on flood plains is also a growing concern. Floodplains are flat areas of land with higher elevation on both sides. After it rains it is a place where unwelcomed floodwaters are kept. If there is construction in floodplains it will only be destroyed by incoming water. Lastly steep slopes also contribute to flooding. When it rains, the water runs down the slope to a river. But if it is raining very hard it could lead to mudslides, and flooding of the river. Which brings me into possible solutions to these complications. One solution could be to build dams to hold back the floodwaters. Another solution would be straightening rivers to increase the speed of the river to remove water from affected areas. Levees and embankments can prevent rivers from overflowing by increasing the height of the riverbanks to allow more water to be contained. Dredging can make a channel deeper, and free of sediment so it can contain more water. But these solutions have its disadvantages. One downside to all these solutions is that they are expensive to maintain and build. Second, even though a flood happening is less eventful, it is more hazardous if it does occur. For example if a flood hits and the dam cannot support all the incoming water. There would be havoc. Another obstacle is that these engineering defenses can disrupt natural processes such as crops being fertilized by silt. That was a brief description of what causes flooding, and how to prevent it from happening.
Sources: