How does flood occur?
A flood can occur naturally, but it can develop into a minor or major catastrophe when material values and human life are affected. But how does this natural event come about?
The cause often arises in nature
- Flooding initially describes the fact that water rises above the normal level and floods the area for several days.
- A distinction must be made between ebb and flow as well as a river. In the case of floods, the term flood only refers to the highest level in general, which means that it does not have to be rated in the sense of a catastrophe. However, in the context of a storm surge, the flooding also arises as a catastrophe from the normal tides.
- The causes of flooding in rivers are several factors, which on the one hand need to be treated separately, but on the other hand can also interact.
- The annually recurring snow melt is already an event that increases the water level. Persistent heavy rainfall can also be mentioned and, under certain circumstances, global warming, which pumps more water into the ecosystem due to the melting of the glaciers. These partly natural reasons can interlock and lead to worse disasters.
- A flood can also trigger other catastrophes, such as a landslide, or of course other catastrophes.
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Floods as a deliberate catastrophe
- Floods can also be deliberately created by humans. On the one hand, this is the case with the construction of dams, which store the water in a wide area and thus, if necessary, threaten the flora and fauna as well as human life.
- On the other hand, however, these dams can be deliberately destroyed, causing flooding in the following areas.
- Water disasters are also homemade by straightening rivers. This is particularly devastating in flat areas downstream, as natural flood protection is undermined in this way. Because the straightening no longer slows down the flow speed of the water.
- The sealing of the soil can also be mentioned in this regard. With fewer and fewer ways in which water can naturally penetrate the ground in order to be stored there, more and more water is naturally available above ground.
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