Experiment

materials:

• bottle with holes in it
• water
• dirt
• cardboard houses
• lego people
• cardboard trees
• container
• raised cardboard houses with plinths

Procedure:

1. Build a slope of dirt in the container but leave space at the bottom of the slope.
2. Put down the trees, lego people, and both kinds of houses on high and low levels.
3. Now pour a little bit of water in the reserved space. This is your river.
4. Make it rain in the container.  You can do this by pouring water into the bottle with holes in it and holding it over the river.
5. Observe what is happening to the people, trees, and houses on lower levels.

What this experiment means:

• This shows that you should build your house with a good foundation and on high ground.
• If you see that there is about to be a flash flood get to high ground and don't go swimming.
• If you do not do these things by a flash flood danger zone your house could be annihilated or you could die.

The Johnstown Flood

• The Johnstown flood happened on june 1,1889 when the South Fork dam failed after heavy rain, unleashing 20,000,000 tons of water on Johnstown, pennsylvania.
• The flood killed 2,209 people.  99 entire families died, including 396 children.
• Many of the people that weren't killed by the flood were killed in the fire that broke out in the debris under the stone bridge.
• A temporary martial government was established over Johnstown, under the General of Pennsylvania, helped by military groups from Pittsburgh and by volunteer officers. Attempts at disorder and violence by gangs were stopped, and several thieves were lynched, because the people helping out did not want to wait for court to give the suspects a fair trial.
• On June 6 the towns along the Conemaugh and Allegheny Valley's were subjected to a severe epidemic of typhus (a bacterial disease caused by lice, ticks, mites, and rat fleas). To make it worse, there was not enough medicine to go around.
• The water in the Allegheny river was then found to be poisoned so people were advised by the local board of health to filter and boil their water before it was used.
• The hunting and fishing club that owned south fork dam was widely criticized but no successful lawsuits were ever brought against them.

Causes

• Flash floods are caused when rain falls so fast that the ground cannot absorb it all.  When this happens roads can turn into rivers, and buildings, cars, and bridges can be swept away
• They can also be caused when dams fail to hold water back
• When ice blocking a river suddenly melts a flash flood can occur
• Flash floods occur most often in geomorphic low-lying areas such as canyons.

Key vocabulary

• rain-water that is condensed from the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere and falls to earth in drops.
• awash – covered with water
• Dam-a wall across a river that controls the flow of the river water
• Canyon-a deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it
• ice jam-an obstruction of broken river ice in a narrow part of a channel
• water-a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, H 2 O, freezing at 32°F or 0°C and boiling at 212°F or 100°C,that in a more or less impure state constitutes rain, oceans, lakes,rivers, etc.: it contains 11.188 percent hydrogen and 88.812 percent oxygen, by weight.
• high ground-land that is higher than the surrounding area, especially that which stays dry
• foundation-the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level.
• river-a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another such stream
• absorb-take in or soak up a liquid                                                            

Facts

• • Flash floods can can bring walls of water 10-20 feet high.
  • Floods are the most widespread natural disaster aside from wildfires.
  • In the past few years, floods and flash floods have caused billions of dollars in damage each year.A 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that coastal flooding alone does approximately $3 trillion in damage worldwide.
  • Many ancient communities relied on the annual flooding of floodplain valleys on rivers like the Tigris-Euphrates, the Nile, and the Ganges to bring nutrient rich silt deposits that create very fertile soils.
  • Today, advanced computer modelling allows authorities to predict where flooding is likely to occur and how severe it will be.
  • Just 6 inches of moving water can knock you down, and 2 feet of water can sweep your vehicle away.
  • Flash floods are the #1 cause of weather-related deaths in the USA.
  • If your skin touches flood water, make sure to wash it with soap and disinfected water because there might be bad bacteria or chemicals in the water.
  • 90% of all U.S. natural disasters declared by the President involve some sort of flooding.
  • Strategic military flooding of the river top the third and fourth deadliest spots. In 1642, approximately 300,000 people died to flooding, famine, and plague when the Ming governor of Kaifeng ordered his men to break dikes along the river in an attempt to drown rebels assaulting his city. In 1938, the river was again used as a defensive weapon to halt the advance of invading Japanese troops, killing nearly a million people.

Legend

God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. However, one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah, found favor in God's eyes. With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth.  God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, both male and female, and seven pairs of all the clean animals, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.  Finally after an entire year, God invited Noah to come out of the ark. Immediately, he built an altar and worshiped the Lord with burnt offerings from some of the clean animals. God was pleased with the offerings and promised never again to destroy all the living creatures as he had just done. Later God established a covenant with Noah: "Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." As a sign of this everlasting covenant God set a rainbow in the clouds.

Warnings

• Be aware of any signs of heavy rain
• Move to higher ground if rapidly rising water is seen or heard
• Do not attempt to cross the flowing water. As NOAA says,turn around don't drown.  A car can be swept away in as little as 2 feet of water.

Key People

• Richard Nixon-  In a July 1970 statement to Congress, President Nixon proposed creating NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to serve a national need for better protection of life and property from natural hazards.
• NOAA not only provides flash flood warnings but also tornado warnings and research.  On satellites, they monitor  the movement of volcanic ash, hurricanes, and wildfires that threaten communities.

Pictures

Types of Floods

• The most common types of floods are Coastal Flood, Fluvial Flood, and Pluvial Flood

• Coastal Floods are very strong. They occur when its normally dry, low-lying flooded by seawater

• Fluvial Flooding is river flooding. Fluvial floods occur where rivers burst their banks as a result of sustained or intense rainfall

• Pluvial Flooding occurs when an extremely heavy rain saturates the city or town drainage system and the excess water cannot be absorbed

Map

Causes

• A flash flood can be caused by very heavy rain or an accident like a dam break can cause one

When flash floods occur

• flash floods occur basically everywhere  but occur at winter or during the spring falls because a lot of rain and snow falls during winter and because during spring the snow melts

Definition

• A sudden and destructive rush of water down a narrow gully or over a sloping surface, caused by heavy rainfall

How often Floods occur

• It all depends on the region
• Most likely near a water source or somewhere with Tsunami’s and Hurricanes
• Floods can also occur in forests