Causes of Flooding – its 6 [Causes & Preventions]

The causes of flooding is an overflow of water onto the dry land and floods are natural occurrences where land is normally dry abruptly becomes submerged in water and almost anywhere floods can happen.

The flood can bring enough water to cover the roof of a house or they can cover an area with just a few inches of water and for communities, floods can be dangerous. There are many causes of flooding like rain, dam breakage, and melting of glaciers, etc.

Due to the overflow of streams, rivers, lakes, or oceans and as a result of heavy rainfall flooding happens and whenever the flooding takes place there is a possibility of a loss of life, extensive damage to property, and hardship to people. The floods can carry bridges, cars and also destroys crops and one can wipe away important structures and tress on any area.

Causes of Flooding:

There are many causes of flooding such as;

1. Heavy Rains
2. Rivers or Streams Overflows
3. Lakes and Coastal Flooding
4. Dam Breakage
5. Melting of Glacier
6. Clogged Drainages

Heavy Rains:

To most of the flooding cases, the rain is the leading contributor and contributing to flooding too much rain causes the water to flow overland.

Short rainfall periods can also result in flooding depending on the rainfall distribution, the amount of rain, and soil moisture content, and slow rainfall for longer periods can also result in floods. So, rains are one of the most common causes of flooding.

Rivers or Streams Overflows:

Rivers or Streams overflowing is also one of the causes of flooding and in this the river can overflow their bank and it flows downstream to the neighboring low-lying lands which may result in the flooding.

In Dams when the carrying capacity is exceeded and causing the water to burst may also cause floods and flood caused by the river overflow will sweep everything in its path.

Lakes and Coastal Flooding:

When large storms or tsunamis cause the water body to surge inland then lakes and coastal flooding occur and these overflows have too much power to destroy ill-equipped structures such as houses & bridges, etc.

To flooding, strong and massive winds drive water onto the dry coastal lands and cause floods and the situation is even more dangerous when the winds blowing from the oceans carry rains in them or when the tsunami carries sea waters which causes too much damage to any area.

Lakes and coastal flooding are the causes of flooding.

Dam Breakage:

To hold water from flowing down from a raised ground Dams are man-made structures and to generate electricity the potential energy stored in the dam.

Because of overwhelming carriage capacity the walls can become weak and break and in the adjacent areas breaking of the dam can cause heavy and sudden flooding.

When the embankment built along the sides of the river to stop high water from flowing onto the land breaks then flooding occurs and sometimes excess water from the dam is released which may cause flooding.

Melting of Glacier:

During the winter season ice and snow build up in the cold regions and when the temperature rises in summer ice and snow stars melting which transfers the water to the drylands which may cause floods.

The mountain areas have ice on top of them and in the summer when the ice starts melting and causes flood in lower areas and this is also called snowmelt flooding.

Clogged Drainages:

When snowmelt or rainfall runoff cannot be channeled properly in the drainage systems which forces the water to flow over the land can result in flooding and cause of this type of flooding is clogged or lack of proper drainage system.

Until the storm-water systems or waterways are rectified the areas remain flooded and if the proper drainage system is not provided the area remains flooded until the water evaporates.

Preventions for Flood:

There are following preventions for the causes of flooding such as;

1. Introduce a better flood warning system.
2. To help the homes and businesses modify them to stand with floods.
3. Construct building above the flood level.
4. Tackle climate change.
5. Increase speeding on flood defenses.
6. Protect wetlands and introduce plant trees strategically.
7. Restore rivers to their natural course.
8. Introduce water storage areas.
9. Improve soil conditions.
10. Put up more flood barriers.