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Thinking 'big' may not be best approach to saving large-river fish

Large-river specialist fishes—from giant species like paddlefish and blue catfish, to tiny crystal darters and silver chub—are in danger, but researchers say there is greater hope to save them if major ...

Biology - Ecology

14 hours ago

5 / 5 (1)

Eco database to map landscape projects

Environmental projects which map some of the most important benefits we get from nature have been brought together for the first time in an online database, following national survey work by researchers in the University ...

Space & Earth - Environment

May 22, 2013

5 / 5 (1)

Flood

A flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its normal boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Floods can also occur in rivers, when the strength of the river is so high it flows out of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders and causes damage to homes and businesses along such rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding.

The word "flood" comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages (compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float). The specific term "The Flood," capitalized, usually refers to the great Universal Deluge described in the Bible, in Genesis, and is treated at Deluge.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA

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