China (Various) (submitted by Anonymous; added on 8/30/2000)
Chinese farmers sat on a dike, completely surrounded by water. They described 10-foot-high walls of water, sweeping across their paddy fields. They said they had lost everything. For a month before, they had worked to strengthen dikes against rising water. However, on July 11, 1991, a terrible downpour of rain caused a torrent of water to crash through a dike, destroying crops and machinery. Li Dedei, the village chief, said, "We were running for our lives. Huge logs that we used to support the dike were thrown into the air by water, and rocks and other debris came crashing down." Months of rain caused an area larger than Minnesota to be completely submerged, the worst-hit area being the Yangtze River basin. People rode around in boats and wooden washtubs and huddled on rooftops crowded with furniture, household items, and livestock. One farmer cried, "We couldn’t save our paddy fields, the water has washed away years of effort." The flood was the worst since 1954, when at least 10 million people were evacuated from the afflicted area. In this flood, more than 200 million people were affected in some way. Luckily, however, fewer than 2,000 people died from the actual flooding. Millions of others perished from polluted drinking water and illnesses caused by the bad water.

Southern California, USA (1992) (submitted by Dolores; added on 8/30/2000)
I work for Ventura County Flood Control District just 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Southern California. In Feb. 1992 we had heavy rains. Our automated system was exceeding 10 year rainfall rates so images on our map that demonstrate rain totals were blinking red! The downstream streamgage however was not indicating much response. However, from long experience of watching such rains we warned the downstream Recreational Vehicle park manager who resides within the Floodway and is supposed to tell folks of the danger during the winter. He didn't trust our judgment and took the time to get a cup of coffee and drive over to the bank to look for himself. Before the coffee could cool, the water was up to his calves and rising. The streamgage indicated a rise from 6000 cfs to 30,000 cfs in less than 30 minutes. The RV park was inunndated and if not for the quick work of Sheriff's Helicopter, many would have washed out to sea. As it were, an $85000 new dream RV floated into the river and was reduced to small kindling against the RR bridge abutment. That film clip was shown on CNN several thousand times. Most did not realize we had warned them 45 minutes before the flood, but he did not believe us. The rain is much more in the mountains above than on the coastal plain.