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Click on the links to read about flooding which has occurred throughout history.

England and the Netherlands (1099)
High tides and storm waves submerged the English coast, killing 100,000.

Arno Valley, Italy (1117)
The Ponte Vecchio was swept away by floods.

The Netherlands (1228)
Sea flooding killed more than 100,000 citizens.

Netherlands (1287)
The Zuider Zee flooded after a seawall collapsed. The resulting flood killed 50,000. The storm sent waves as far as East Anglia, England, where another 500 perished.

China (1287)
A flood killed around 50,000.

Arno Valley, Italy (1333)
4 feet of water poured into the central square, destroying the city walls and three bridges. 300 perished.

Netherlands (1421, November 18)
A seawall at the Zuider Zee Dike breaks. The outpouring water floods 72 villages and kills 10,000.

Kaifeng, Honan Province, China (1642)
Rebels destroy the city’s river dikes, and water floods cities and lowlands. 300,000 people die.

St. Petersburg, Russia (1824)
An ice jam clogged the Neva River, flooding nearby cities and killing 10,000.

England (1864, March 18)
The Dale Dike broke, causing the Humber River to overflow and take 240 lives.

China (1871)
The Yangtze River rose so high that a river boat was stuck on a rock 120 feet in the air when the river receded.

China (September - October, 1887)
The Huang He, or Yellow River, flooded 50,000 square miles, taking 300 villages. 900,000 drowned in the river waters, and another 2 million were dislocated. Although an accurate death toll is unknown, some experts say as many as 6 million died. It was the most devastating flood in recorded history. The flood was caused by heavy rains in late summer, which broke through 70-foot-high man-made levees.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA (1889, May 31)
South Fork Dam broke and took 2,209 lives in one of the worst post-Civil War disasters in American history.

Kansas City, Missouri, USA (1903, May 16-June 1)
Heavy rains caused a flood, taking 200 lives and leaving 8,000 others without homes. Damages were estimated at $20 million when the Missouri River rose water levels 35 feet.

Willow Creek, Oregon, USA (1903)
A flash flood raged after a violent cloudburst, killing 200 people and destroying one third of the town’s buildings.

China (1911)
The Yangtze River overflowed, killing over 100,000 citizens.

Mississippi Valley, USA (1912, April-May)
200 people are killed and $45 million damage incurred when the Mississippi River overflows.

Ohio River (1913, March 26)
Heavy rains and early snowmelts flooded the valley, killing as many as 700 people. The $100 million damage led to development of a $30 million plan to control floods, as well as a commission to investigate flood prevention. These were the first programs of their kind in the nation.

Mississippi Valley, USA (1927, April)
A flood, resulting from heavy rains, caused 313 deaths, leaving 637,000 homeless. Felt over 18 million acres, the water totaled $285 million in property losses and damage. Levees collapsed at 47 separate locations, drowning 750,000 houses under water. At this point, Herbert Hoover took charge of relief efforts, and his role as Secretary of Commerce probably contributed to his eventual election as president.

Vermont, USA (1927, November 3-4)
A tropical storm produced heavy rains by trapping warm air between a pair of high-pressure areas. The Hudson Valley flooded, killing 84 people with damages totaling $28 million.

China (1931)
The Yellow River flooded, causing 3,700,000 deaths.

Texas, USA (1935)
A flash flood of the Colorado River occurred in 1935, carrying a house over a dam near Austin. Flash floods are known to kill more US citizens than any other natural disaster. They also damage about one billion dollars of property annually.

Mississippi Valley, USA (1937, January-February)
In January, about 156 trillion tons of water poured down the American Midwest. By January 24, a day that would live on as Black Sunday, 12 states had overflowing rivers. Over 250 people drowned, and 900 later died from sickness or injuries. 12,700 square miles were covered in water, destroying 75,000 homes. The American Red Cross set up 1,700 refugee camps, where 698,000 patients were treated. Damages were more than $300 million.

China (1938)
The Yellow River floods, causing 1 million deaths.

North China (1939)
500,000 people perished in river flooding, while millions more are lost in the following famine. Some reports claim that Chiang Kai-shek ordered people to destroy the dikes to prevent Japanese advance, a regrettable move when the rivers overflowed.

Northeast Kentucky, USA (1939, July 5)
Flash floods killed 75 people.

Mississippi Valley, USA (1947, July 5)
A flood, although killing only 16 people, caused $850 million in damages. The trend of lowering mortality rates but increasing property losses would continue.

Northwest United States (1948, May-June)
46 people were killed when the Columbia River flooded, causing $75 million damage.

Foochow, China (1948, June)
Coastal flooding caused by typhoon rains took more than 3,500 lives.

China (1949, July)
A flood reportedly killed 50,000, but reports are sketchy.

Kansas River Basin, USA (1951, July)
There were 41 deaths, and 200,000 were left homeless when a four-day-long storm overwhelmed an area that had already experienced two months of heavy rain. Water swept over 850,000 acres of corn and wheat fields. Kansas City burned for almost a week when oil storage tanks broke and caught fire. The damages were estimated at over $1 billion.

Manchuria (1951, August 6-7)
Typhoons cause floods in which 4,800 perish.

Po River, Italy (1951, November)
Heavy rains and tidal waves flood coastal areas, killing 100 people and 30,000 cattle.

Lynmouth, England (1952, August 15)
Millions of gallons of water sweep into the town of Lynmouth when over 9 inches of rain fall in less than a day. A 20-foot-high water wave hit the buildings, wrecking 93 structures, 28 bridges, and killing 34 residents. Another 50 people are killed in nearby areas.

The Netherlands (1953, January 31)
Hurricane-force winds and high tides helped the North Sea flow over Holland’s dikes in 100 different places, submerging more than 4 million acres underwater. One-sixth of the country was covered in water, drowning 2,000 people and another 300 in Britain. 300,000 other residents were affected through injuries of property damage. Holland lost 9.4% of its cropland and 3.4% of pasture. In addition, 35,000 cattle, 100,000 poultry, and 25,000 pigs died. Damages totaled $300 million. The Netherlands, following this disaster, started a $650 million program to build new dikes on a 25 mile line in the southwest. They were designed to have three separate lines of defense: “watchers,” the large, strong outer seawall; “sleepers,” another wall built more inland; and “dreamers,” smaller barriers around individual farms.

Teheran, Iran (1954, August)
A flash flood rushed through a gully, killing 2,000 people who had gathered for devotions.

China (1954)
The Yangtze River flooded, causing 30,000 deaths.

India and East Pakistan (1955, summer)
The Ganges River flooded, submerging over 10,000 square miles. 45 million homes were destroyed and 2,000 people perished.

Connecticut River Valley, USA (1955, August 17-19)
Hurricane Diane released 14 inches of rain on New England, overflowing several rivers, killing 190 people, and causing $1.8 billion damage.

Mekong Delta, South Vietnam (1964, November-December)
Typhoon Iris and Typhoon Joan sent heavy rain pouring down on 5 million acres of land, killing 5,000 people and dislocating one million.

Florence, Italy (1966, November 4-5)
Southern Europe experienced floods that killed 150 people in the countries of Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Yugoslavia. The waters damaged much of Florence’s art and architecture. At 2:30 a.m., 36 mile-per-hour waters began to flow toward Florence, whose storm sewers could not handle the rising water. Romeldo Cesaroni, a watchman, biked through the city to wake up the Ponte Vecchio’s shopkeepers. Artisans were able to arrive at their shops in time to save the gold and silver jewelry. Water swept into the main square at 4 a.m. By 7 a.m., the city had been cut off from the rest of the country. Oil tanks broke open, sending out sticky black mud that would later severely damage priceless art pieces. When the waters finally began to recede, 600,000 tons of debris were left behind. 5,000 families were dislocated, and more than 1,400 artworks damaged beyond repair. Cimabue’s Crucifixion, and frescoes by Botticelli, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini, and Paolo Uccello were lost, as well as many historic scientific instruments, musical instruments, and arms collections. Among these were the panels of Pisanos’ door of the Baptistry, Ghiberti’s Porta del Paradiso, and 10% of the state’s records. Almost 2 million books were also lost. The residents of Florence were most disturbed by the lack of warning of the floods. Officials didn’t want to begin the alarm in the early morning hours, but the residents are also partly to blame. Ever since they had first settled the region, they had stripped the hills of their natural vegetation, producing an annual cycle of winter floods and summer droughts. Although the area has experienced numerous floods in the past, no real action had been taken to help prepare the city or protect its treasures. Neither the Lavane or the Penna Dam was designed to control floods. No effort was made to restore the hillside ground cover, either.

Southern California, USA (1969, January 18-26)
Heavy rains caused severe floods and landslides, killing 91 residents and causing $35 million damage. Another storm one month later killed an additional 18 citizens.

Shantung Peninsula, People’s Republic of China (1969, April 23)
Storm surges pushed 20-foot-high waves over 1,000 square miles along the coast of Shantung Province. The Chinese government was then embroiled in the Cultural Revolution, but sketchy reports claim that many hundred thousand died. Rescue efforts were slowed by cold weather and snow.

Salvador (Bahia), Brazil (1971, April 26-30)
Record rainfalls released 15 inches of water in 24 hours, causing landslides and flooding that turned many valleys into lakes. Houses and debris were swept along the water, killing 100 people, injuring 2,000, and dislocating 11,000.

Medjerda River, Tunisia (1973, April 26-30)
Heavy rains flooded the valley for one week, destroying almost 15% of the cereal crop, killing 150 people, and leaving 26,000 homeless.

Indus River Valley, Pakistan (1973, August)
Intense rainfall caused the Indus River to overflow for ten days, covering towns and districts with up to 20 feet of water. The cotton crop and wheat harvests were destroyed. Punjab, the region hardest hit, lost 70,000 cattle, 255,000 houses, and 300 citizens.

Mississippi, USA (1973)
An area larger than France was flooded.

Brazil (1974, March-April)
Torrential rains caused flooding that killed over 1,500 people in a two-week period. 20% of the country felt the effects, especially Santa Catarina, where waters left the livestock carcasses hanging from tree branches. Snakes, centipedes, and scorpions fled to upper house stories to flee the rising water. Meteorologists believe that the storms may have been caused by rainforest destruction in the country’s southern areas. The lack of trees increases surface reflectivity, sending the sun’s heat back into the atmosphere. As a result, clouds form more violent storms that unleash more water.

Bangladesh (1974, August)
Monsoons flooded 20,000 square miles, causing damages exceeding $2 billion. 2,500 people perished, and diseases like cholera spread quickly after the water receded. The Untied Nations flew in over $2.5 million worth of food and 20 tons of medical supplies.

Luzon, Philippines (1976, May)
A medium-sized storm brought rains and a week of flooding, killing 60 people and dislocating another 630,000.

Loveland, Colorado, USA (1976, July)
This “once-in-a-hundred-years phenomenon” was a flash flood that swept through a narrow valley, drowning 85 campers, fishermen, hunters, and vacationers.

East Java, Indonesia (1976, November)
Floods caused by torrential rains killed 136 people.

Appalachia, USA (1977, April 6)
Water rushed down mountain slopes, making waters rise to the century’s record highs. 20 people were killed, 23,000 dislocated, and millions of dollars damage caused.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA (1977, July 20)
A severe flood killed 77 residents, damaged 2,500 homes, and totaled $200 million damages. Almost 9 inches of rain fell in 8 hours, sending down so much water that the regional flood-control systems broke down. 100 million gallons of water swept away everything in its path, and some bodies were not found until one year later.

California and Arizona, USA (1978, February)
A month of rain and wind caused a deluge to rush through arroyos, killing 11 people and causing $23 million damage. The rising Santa Cruz River destroyed almost every bridge in its way.

New Delhi, India (1978, summer)
Monsoon rains caused millions of dollars in damage and made millions of people homeless. 1,000 people perished when the swelling Ganges and Jamura Rivers destroyed the sacred city of Benares, Allahabad, and even rose near Agra’s Taj Mahal. 5% of the population (3.5 million) felt the flood’s effects, and at least 600,000 houses were swept away in the flood.

West Bengal, India (1980, autumn)
Monsoon-caused floods, landslides, and destroyed buildings killed 1,500 people.

Caracas, Venezuela (1981, spring and summer)
Heavy tropical rains hit the northwestern section of Venezuela, killing 47 people, dislocating 4,000, and causing $50 million in property damages. The “ranchos,” or poorer areas surrounding the steep canyon walls above Caracas were hardest hit. The unstable shanties were swept away by mudslides, which closed highways and cut off communications. A landslide on July 16 blocked a major road during rush hour, creating an 18-mile-long traffic jam.

Eastern Russia (1981, August)
Typhoon Phyllis caused heavy rains that caused heavy property losses and dislocated 8,000 citizens. The official death toll is unknown.

Uttar Pradesh State, India (1981, early October)
Monsoons caused the Rapti and Ghagra rivers to overflow, flooding 200 villages and drowning 425 people.

Tagum, the Philippines (1981, October 9)
Monsoon floods forced 600 people to hide in eight bunkhouses when overflowing streams sent waves of water, trees, rocks, and mud through the village. Some debris flows smashed into the buidings, killing over 160 villagers and injuring 100 others.

China (1991)
The Yangtze River flooded, causing 1,700 deaths.

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Forces of Nature: ThinkQuest 2000 (Team #C003603)

http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/flooding/casestudies.shtml