Flood Case

Study
Chrison Wong
Geography 12IB
 Flash Flooding
 Caused by heavy rainfall in
a short period of time (less
than 6 hours) or less
commonly, a sudden
release of water such as a
dam failure or ice dam
collapse
 The ground becomes
saturated with water and is
unable to drain surface
run-off quickly enough, so
water collects in low areas
Lag Response
Flooding
 Caused by
prolonged rainfall
or other inputs
such as melting ice
 Relatively long
term – days or
weeks
 Flooding is due to
rising water in an
existing waterway
(i.e. river, stream)
which overflows its
banks
 Ethiopia
2006
(Flash Flooding
in a LEDC)
 The Dechatu River, which
bisects Dire Dawa, flooded
within a period of 3 hours
due to heavy rainfall.
 Police fire guns into the air
to warn citizens of the
flooding.
 The flood killed 250 people
and displaced 10,000
people, more than half of
which are still living in
tents today.
 Many building and homes
were destroyed.
 The flood prompted the
town to build sand banks
Switzerland
2005
(Lag Flooding in a
MEDC)
 The Aare River, which runs
through Bern, flooded after
days of torrential rainfall.
 Almost 1000 people were
evacuated.
 The flood killed 6 people
and caused $800 million in
damage
 Infrastructure such as
electrical and water
systems were damaged.
 After the water subsided,
almost all people returned
to their homes
immediately, and repairs
began within days.
Ganges River Basin
 Ganges: Causes of
Floods
 The Ganges Delta in
Bangladesh and India is
situated at the confluence of
the Ganges River, the
Brahmaputra, and the
Meghna River.
 Heavy monsoon rain from
June to September and
synchronization of the flood
peaks of all three rivers cause
annual flooding of the region.
 Ganges: Human Impact
 The two major dams on the
Ganges are the Haridwar and
Farraka dams.
 The Haridwar dam diverts
water from the river to the
Upper Ganges Canal to
irrigate the surrounding area.
 The Farraka dam is used to
produce hydroelectricity.
 Dams reduce the velocity and
competence of the river,
causing more deposition. This
raises the level of the river
bed and hence significantly
increases the chance or
flooding upstream of the dam.
 Ganges: Human Impact
cont’d
 Rapid population growth in the Indian
subcontinent has increased demand for
agricultural land and wood for fuel and
construction, which has encouraged
deforestation in the upstream areas on the
Ganges
 The removal of vegetation reduces the
amount of water which is removed from
the system through interception and
subsequent evapotranspiration, and
increases the rate of percolation and
throughflow. Both of these factors
increase the risk of flooding downstream.
 Deforestation also increases the rate of
Nile River
 Nile: Human Impact
 The Aswan Dam, which was built to generate
hydroelectricity and irrigate the area, has lowered
the base flow of the Nile and no longer allows the
Nile to flood annually.
 The sediments in the river are now held behind
the dam, which cause several problems:
 The Lake Nasser Reservoir is slowly filling up with
sediment, increasing the risk of flooding in the region.
As the water capacity of the reservoir decreases in the
future, this presents a risk of dam failure.
 The land downstream is now infertile because the silt
which replenished the land when the river flooded its
banks no longer arrives.
 The highly populated Nile Delta is at risk of flooding
because there is very little sediment coming down the
Nile to replenish the sediments lost from erosion of the
coastline.
 Works Consulted
 British Broadcasting Corporation. (2005). Floods Sweep
Across Switzerland.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4175944.stm>
 El-Sayed, Sayed & van Dijken, Gert L. (2008). The
southeastern Mediterranean ecosystem revisited: Thirty
years after the construction of the Aswan High Dam
<http://ocean.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD3.1/Elsayed/elsaye
d.html>
 Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). (2008).
Ethiopia: Thousands displaced by flash flood in Gambella.
UNHCR Refworld.
<http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRIN,,ETH,,48b3b2
189,0.html>
 Internet Geography. (2008). Drainage Basin.
<http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/gcse/drai
nage.html>
 Khalequzzaman. (1998). Recent Floods in Bangladesh
Possible Causes and Solutions.
<http://www.cs.albany.edu/~amit/BanglaFloods.txt>
 Mukerjee, Amitahba. (1998). The Ganga Basin.