General information of floods , definition of floods and the types of floods
Answers
Natural Calamities : Flood
A flood the covering of land by a large amount of water. It can happen due to many reasons.
Let's have a view to some of the reasons :-
⊙ Rainwater normally fows down streams into rivers and get carried away to the sea. But when there is heavy rainfall , or a river gets blocked by landslides , or a riverbed gets silted , the water overflows on to the land nearby. Deforestation can also lead to floods because when there are no trees to check the flow of water , rivers fill.up very fast.
⊙ When the snow on high mountains melts suddenly in summer , snow - fed rivers can overflow.
⊙ Severe storms can cause floods.
⊙ When a dam is built across a river, a lot of water collects behind it. If the dam breaks , a lot of water rushes out and floods the land nearby.
What happens during Floods ?
Floods affect the lives of hundreds of lives of people in India. The eastern and the North eastern parts of the country are prone to floods during the rainy season.
⊙ Floods wash away people , their houses , belongings and farm animals.
⊙ The water covers crop fields and destroys the crop.
⊙ It covers roads and railway lines. This cuts off people , making it difficult for them to leave the area or get help from surrounding areas.
⊙ The flood water contaminate means it pollute or making impure the sources of drinking water. Besides , mosquitoes breed in the stagnant pools of water left behind when the flood water move back. All this spreads diseases after a flood.
What can we do ?
It is the governments responsibility to lessen the suffering caused by floods. We can also help :-
⊙ People must be warned over television and radio much before flood waters enter and area. They must also be helped to leave the place.
⊙ People trapped in a flood-hit area must be rescued quickly.
⊙ Temporary shelters must be built for them in a safe place and they must be provided with food, medicines and drinking water.
We can take a few steps to prevent or to stop floods :-
⊙ An embarkment is a wall of earth and stone made to stop the water of a river from overflowing onto the land. Building such walls helps to prevent floods.
⊙ Canals carry water from rivers to crop fields. Building a canal not only help farmers but also prevent floods by carrying away water when the water in the river rises.
⊙ Plating trees helps to reduce the risk of floods in hilly areas.
⊙ Making sure that the channels through which rainwater flows are not blocked also reduces the risk of floods.
Thank You!
Answer:
Causes of flood:
Flooding is usually caused by a volume of water within a water body, such as a lake, overflowing. Sometimes a dam breaks, suddenly releasing a large amount of water. The result is that some of the water travels to land, and 'floods' the area. Many rivers are in a channel, between river banks. They flood when the strength of the river causes it to flow beyond the banks. This is more common at bends or meanders. Flood damage can be prevented by moving away from places that flood. However, people have long liked to have their homes and businesses alongside water because water is good for agriculture and transport and in other ways. Floods are also caused due to improper management of drains.
Effects of flood:
i. Agricultural lands are destroyed due to crops being submerged in water. This causes a lot of economic loss to farmers.
ii. They wreck houses, particularly kuccha houses in the villages.
iii. They cause disruption of all transport and communication.
iv. There is shortage of drinking water.
v. They harm human, animal and plant life.
vi. They cause a rise in epidemics because of waterlogging. Malaria and diarrhoea are common diseases during floods.
vii. They cause decay of organic matter, leading to growth of infection-spreading germs.
viii. They affect the ecosystem in a negative way.
ix. They cause a lot of harm to the economy of the region.
Control of flood:
Some methods of flood control have been practiced since ancient times.These methods include planting vegetation to retain extra water, terracing hillsides to slow flow downhill, and the construction of floodways (man-made channels to divert floodwater).Other techniques include the construction of levees, lakes, dams, reservoirs,retention ponds to hold extra water during times of flooding.
Explanation: