Background/Literature Review
Nature causes all floods despite the fact that some manmade activities also contribute in flooding. The developed nations on the globe including UK and the United States do suffer from losses caused by flooding (Natural Disasters-Floods). For instance, the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina that took place between 2005 and 2009 were intensified due to manmade activities (Shrum, 2014).
Classification of Flooding
Floods can be classified into river and coastal floods. Mandych (2011) defined river floods as inundations of river valleys that are caused by high waters running downstream. This is the most frequent and widespread type of floods. He added that river floods have an integrated characteristic of being hydrographic. This implies that the intensity of the flow rate and the magnitude of runoff for a given river section changes. It also means that the distribution of the flood volume keeps on changing over time. Flooding, especially in river flood plains, has been occurring since millions of years and is just as natural as rain itself. River floods are often atmospherically driven and caused by excessive precipitation. Other factors that might contribute to causing this kind of flood include the falling of landslides into rivers and the failure of dams and levees (Natural Hazards: Flooding). Baqir et al. (2012) conducted a study on flooding in Pakistan that can be presented as an illustrative example of this type of flood. This was a major devastating flood event in Pakistan in the year 2010. The flood, due to heavy rains resulted in about 1600 fatalities and also spread various diseases due to unhygienic conditions provided in the shelters.
Coastal floods, on the other hand, occur due to weather and tidal conditions that cause an increase in sea levels. It happens due to tropical cyclones or tsunamis produced tectonically. Studies show that the frequency and severity of coastal flood would rise. Just as its name implies, coastal floods affect coastal communities (Natural Hazards: Flooding; Shrum, 2014).
Hurricane Katrina is most destructive natural disaster and the deadliest hurricane in the history of United States. This is also one of the destructive storms that have ever hit the US. In August 29, 2005, the deadly storm caused a lot of destruction on New Orleans, Louisiana as well as the coastal regions of Mississippi and Alabama. It caused flooding that utterly wasted and destroyed the region, killing as much as 1,300 to 1,500 people in the region (Natural Hazards: Flooding).
The Americans have undergone three major shifts in Hurricane Katrina between 2005 and 2009 (Shrum, 2014). The cause of flooding in New Orleans can be attributed with three phases that include organizational, responsive and lawful. The disastrous occasions of Hurricane Katrina can be attributed to natural, geotechnical and environmental causes. However, the media and litigation process transformed the structural damage to generating knowledge claims. It is important to develop understanding with respect to calamity cycled from attributes humans and to attributes again. The studies report that the storm surge associated with Hurricane Katrina reached around 8 meters on the Gulf coast. The reason for the Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is because the majority of the region lies below the sea level. As a result of this, the storm surges broke levees and therefore caused flooding in the region and also the level of the Lake Pontchartrain was increased due to the flood. As a result of the flood, about 80% of the region was submerged in the flood (Natural Hazard: Flooding; Shrum, 2014).
Floods and hurricanes increase the growth of moulds that consequently give rise to building syndrome. The human exposure to moulds is responsible for many infectious diseases like eye and skin irritations. The studies reported that eczema that is known as most common skin disease was prevailing in Thailand during floods. Moreover, many inflammatory, fungal and bacterial diseases have a tendency to spread in this situation. The University of Iowa also reported many cases of eye infections after flood that occurred in 1993 (Baqir et al. 2012).
Environmental Changes and Flooding
Flooding is a natural disaster that causes devastation on the environment. However, it is important to consider that flooding is often triggered by environmental changes. Environmental changes and factors such as global warming, rising temperature, increase in sea level and so forth influence and cause flooding. Natural disasters such as floods are usually made severe by manmade activities and at the same time manmade activities can also make flooding less severe (Natural Disasters-Floods). Of course, the negative impacts of natural disasters such as floods cannot be overstated, but there is no particular data available to ascertain the impact of such natural disasters to evaluate per capita growth development. The studies and concerned authorities depend on insurance companies in order to obtain the prevailing data (Felbermayr & Gröschl, 2014).
Global Warming
The global warming is an increase in the mean temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans as well as landmass. Global warming is caused by greenhouse effects in which greenhouse gasses retain the radiant energy provided by the sun to the earth (“Global Warming”, 2009). One of the well-known greenhouse gasses is carbon dioxide that is released from the exhaust of motor vehicles, chimneys of refineries and so forth. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased tremendously by about 35 percent since the industrial revolution in the mid-1700s. Besides carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gasses and elements such as methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, synthetic chemicals and aerosols also cause climatic changes that lead to flooding.
Global warming is also one of the key contributors to heavy rainfall in the United States of America and many other regions. This is due warmer air that can hold more moisture. As a result, one can expect heavier rainfall in later years. This leads to fatalities in the US, causing almost 200 fatalities every year (Floods; Natural Disasters-Floods; Shrum, 2014).
Rising Temperature
Rising temperature is mostly caused and aggravated by human activities. Such activities include deforestation, burning of fossil fuel and many other activities which release greenhouse gasses into the environment. These activities are responsible for the melting of the polar caps and also rise in sea level. Apart from flooding, this also puts sea life into danger as well as the human life to risk. Haddad & Teixeira (2004) mentioned that increases in temperature as well as intensification of extreme weather events aggravated the social and environmental problems in Sao Paulo. Global temperature is increasing unprecedentedly. Few (2003) outlined that the Working Group I of the IPCC reported a forecast of the increase in the global surface air temperature from 1.4oC to 5.8oC between 1990 and 2100. Li, Dong, Wen & Chen (2014) also predicted that increase in the global average temperature which may tend to cause flooding. This has already started affecting the lives of millions of people. In order to control flooding, it is vitally important to control the rapid rise in the global temperature.
Increase in Sea Level
Human activities cause an increase in sea level. This could endanger lives around the coastlines and also damage properties. Global warming, together with an increase in the global temperature, leads to rising in sea level. The increased global temperature would further lead to increase in sea level and thereby causing flooding along the coastlines. Greenhouse gasses allow sunlight to penetrate the Earth's surface but prevent the escape of heat. This leads to the heating up of the planet, melting of polar caps and hence a rise in sea level (Few, 2003).
Mitigation Strategies against Flooding
The economic, social and environmental concerns of flooding cannot be overemphasized. This is why proper mitigation strategies to flooding must be employed in order to ensure that the condition does not escalate. Few (2003) mentioned that there are many approaches to tackling flood problems, and they consist of actions to be considered before, during and after the flood events.
Reforestation
Reforestation is the exact opposite of deforestation. It has to do with the replanting of trees, and it is a natural way of reducing greenhouse effect. This is because carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is taken up by plants and used for photosynthesis. Because, the quantity of the greenhouse gas is reduced, reforestation goes a long way in helping to control increase in the global temperature and also reduce the rising of the sea levels. The removal of carbon from biomass make it stabilize, and tree plantations permit the carbon to be confiscated in biomass. Soil stabilization by removal of carbon is an effective mitigating strategy against global warming. Apart from that reforestation or tree plantation, it has had long-term social, economic and environmental friendly impacts. Not only this, vegetation and trees help in reducing erosion and also offers many other benefits (Huang, Liu, Shao, & Xu, 2012).
Appropriate Regulation against Deforestation
Plants and forests obviously a natural sink of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. The forest ecosystem has been greatly disrupted by industrialization and urbanization. This has consequently caused an increase in greenhouse gasses and hence resulting to climatic change. However, the “Earth" and the future generation can be saved through global and local laws. Regulatory measures of preventing flood is classified as non-structural method that is aimed at not just preventing floods. It also reduces its long and short term impacts (Few, 2003; (Huang et al., 2012). As a matter of fact, un-controlled and un-regulated deforestation should be stopped. There is a need of formulating and implementing regulations against de-forestation. Extensive deforestation experienced in the various parts of the world in last few decades. The increased demands of housing and human settlement, as well as use of wood in this industrialized era, have greatly contributed to the deforestation. This deforestation leads to more danger of flooding and people will also lose important environmental providing like natural foods (Huang et al., 2012). The El Nino and La Nina that hit North America and wreaked havoc in the territory in 1988 caused immense flood. Deforestation and global warming are blamed as the two manmade factors that resulted to the loss of lives and properties in the year (Natural Disasters-Floods).
Construction of Levees, Dam, Floodways and Reservoirs
Dams have been constructed for years in order to build up water reservoirs for various purposes. Such purposes include among others irrigation, domestic uses and also to generate electric power. However, dams are also effective means for controlling floods. So they can be controlled by constructing synchronized series of reservoirs as well as dams alongside the streams that leads to main water bodies like rivers. The water so stored during heavy runoff periods and then released during dry seasons (Natural Hazards: Flooding, 2014). However, Few, (2003) mentioned that flooding could be characterized by overflow of rivers caused by dam-breaks among many other factors. According to Diagne (2007), one of the suggested solutions for the flood problems in Senegal is the construction of dams and dykes.
Town Planning
Town planning is one of the essential measures of preventing flooding. In order to ensure town planning, builders should obtain necessary permissions before erecting their buildings so as to ensure that the waterways are not blocked. Furthermore, drainages should always be covered in order to keep objects that would have chocked and blocked them away ("Methods of flood," 2010). In addition, Diagne (2007) also suggested that disaster risk reduction should be integrated into conventional urban development planning and urban governance. He added that there should be organizations that need to respond such disasters and the necessary back up in order to broaden their roles in disaster lessening.
Education
One of the most essential keys to preventing flooding is enlightenment. Drainage systems, waterways and culverts are blocked by people in many developing countries and thereby leading to flooding. This is because they lack the necessary enlightenment on the importance of those drainages and hence flooding occurs. Diagne (2007) mentioned that some of the key mitigation strategies to flooding in Saint Louis include information, education and awareness raising. He emphasized that Saint Louis needed a public education campaign so as to stop people from dumping household waste in facilities designed for rainwater.
Sea/Coastal Defense Walls
The advancement of technology and equipment in the construction industry provide many techniques to control the flooding. Tide gates and sea walls are essential in regions prone to flooding in order to prevent such regions from tidal waves from pushing the water to the land and thereby flooding the area. Sandbags can also be designed and strategically placed in some areas in order to retain floodwaters and thereby preventing flooding in the region.
Conclusion
The paper concluded that flooding has economic, social and environmental concerns, and there is a need to adopt mitigation strategies in order to minimize the impacts of this natural disaster. The paper also examined the menace of flooding such as hurricane Katrina in the US. Furthermore; it explored the relationship between environmental changes and flooding. Such environmental changes as global warming, rising temperature, increase in sea level have direct or indirect link to flooding. Flooding in a region give rise to many infectious diseases including skin and eye irritation.
Flooding is a natural disaster which can utterly damage a city, town or region. However, there are numerous aspects and trends that influence or can cause flooding. The proper control and mitigation strategies can be very essential to control flooding as well as other environmental issues. The prime controlling remedies that could be employed to prevent flooding include reforestation, building sea/coastal defense walls, well-defined town planning, education, and So forth.
References
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Diagne, K. (2007), Governance and natural disasters: addressing flooding in Saint Louis, Senegal, Environment & Urbanization, 19(2), 552-562.
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Felbermayr, G. & Gröschl, J. (2014).Naturally negative: The growth effects of natural disasters, Journal of Development Economics, 111, 92–106
Few, R. (2003), Flooding, vulnerability and coping strategies: local responses to a global threat, Progress in Development Studies, 3(1), 43–58
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Huang, L., Liu, J., Shao, Q., & Xu, X.(2012). Carbon sequestration by forestation across China: Past, present, and future, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15, 1291-1299
Li, G., Dong.G., Wen, L. & Chen, F., (2014). Over bank flooding and human occupation of the Shalongka site in the Upper Yellow River Valley, northeast Tibet Plateau in relation to climate change since the last deglaciation, Quaternary Research, 82, 354–365.
Mandych A.F (2011). Classification of Floods. Retrieved November 10, 2014 from http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c01/E4-06-02-05.pdf
Methods of flood prevention. (2010). Retrieved November 08, 2014 from http://eschooltoday.com/natural-disasters/floods/flood-prevention-methods-html
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Shrum, W., (2014).What caused the flood? Controversy and closure in the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Social Studies of Science, 44(1), 3-33
