By: Judi Stuart
Port Discover - Visitor Services Manager
Port Discover - Visitor Services Manager
Devastating Floods Can Result in Human Helplessness
Living in the Albemarle region has innumerable
blessings. As Goldilocks would say, it’s “… not too hot, not too cold.”
We usually escape the extreme weather faced by many
places in the world. The hurricanes of my childhood were worse than the ones we
have endured in recent years. Storms named Hazel, Donna, and Ash Wednesday stand
out in my memory.
The National Weather Service has described the
flooding taking place in Colorado over the last two weeks as being of Biblical,
indescribable proportions. The airlift being conducted is the largest since
Hurricane Katrina. The media has highlighted the number of deaths, people still
missing, the total of survivors being air-lifted to safety, the horrific
property loss, and the emotional and monetary cost.
Human capabilities are dwarfed by the power of
natural disasters and their aftermath. They make us feel powerless. History
proves our helplessness in such times.
There are five main types of floods. The Areal
variety happens when rain falls at such a rapid rate that the water cannot run
off quickly enough. Sometimes a series of storms causes the disaster, or rain
falling on areas with impermeable surfaces like concrete or frozen earth. Flash
floods often result.
Riverine floods are caused when large rivers with
drainage areas have obstructions such as landslides, ice, or debris. Large dams
built by beavers can also cause flooding in low areas.
Estuarine and coastal flooding are caused by a
combination of rising tide and low barometric pressure. Conditions created by
storms at sea, tsunamis, and storm surges create these types of floods.
Urban flooding happens when heavy rainfall is too
much for the drainage system of a populated area. Catastrophic flooding is the
result of an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or a dam collapsing.
The effects of flooding can include damage to
buildings, bridges, roads, and canals. Loss of electric power can stop water
treatment plants from operating which results in waterborne diseases.
Often the toll of diseases like typhoid and cholera
are worse than the flood itself. Food shortages are brought on by bad harvests
after the tragedy.
The effects of flooding are long lasting and costly.
China was the scene of the five most deadly floods
in history, which occurred in 1931 (2.5-3.5 million dead), 1887 (2 million
dead), 1938 (5-7 hundred thousand dead), 1975 (231,000 dead), and 1935 (145,000
dead).
In 1928 California experienced the 110th worst flood
on record when the St. Francis Dam failed.
The famous Johnstown, Penn., flood occurred in 1889
when the South Fork Dam collapsed after several days of heavy rain. The dam was
14 miles upstream from the town and had been built to form a lake for
vacationing millionaires like Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon. Welsh and
Germans coal mining immigrants were the victims of the mishap.
Floods give us a new level of understanding and
compassion for victims of natural disaster in our world.
(Source: www.lakelandelectric.com)
