Typhoon Mirinae is expected to make landfall in the northern Philippines early Saturday morning. Satellites are monitoring the storm’s rainfall to predict possible further flooding of the region.
120 years ago in 1889, a dam failure caused the disastrous inundation of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Geology professor Dr. Davis Todd set out to investigate the historic flood that killed over 2,000 people.
The Army Corps of Engineers is building a storm surge barrier near New Orleans that hopefully will provide protection against storm surges 20 feet high. This will be one of the largest water control barriers in the world.
Sea level is rising, posing a danger to coastal areas worldwide. 150 years of cumulative data indicate that the southern coast of England may experience more severe flooding in the future.
This CNN video reports on recent landslides and flooding in the Philippines. Some of the flooding was triggered when water was released from dams that were about to be overtopped.
Researchers have discovered a way to use data transmitted by remotely-located GPS equipment to estimate the thickness of snowpack. This type of information is especially valuable in mountain areas where snow melt is used as a source of water supply or where it can be a cause of flooding. The next question is an estimate of the water content of that snow.
Tropical Storm Ketsana has dropped heavy rains on the Philippines, causing landslides and severe flooding. At least fifty people are dead and thousands have been rescued by boat.
Here’s how much damage a water main break can cause. In addition to eroding pavement it can also flood an entire neighborhood if the topography is right. This break occurred near Baltimore, Maryland.
USGS has a continuous record of stage and discharge data for streams in Georgia at their National Water Information System website. The website has data in tabular form or you can plot the data as hydrographs.
Several days of heavy rain produced flooding in many parts of Georgia, especially in northern Georgia and the Atlanta region. The USGS Georgia Water Science Center has lots of photos of flooding from Carroll, Cobb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett and Newton Counties.
This image shows estimates of rainfall for the southeastern United States from September 14–21 produced by the near-real-time, multi-satellite precipitation analysis at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The highest rainfall amounts—more than 300 millimeters —appear in blue. The lightest amounts appear in pale green. Especially intense rainfall occurred in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida. Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
Heavy rains have caused extensive flooding throughout the Atlanta, Georgia area. Several people have been killed and there has been extensive damage. This article at the WSBTV website includes lots of reader-submitted photos and video.
Heavy rains on September 9th caused flash flooding in Turkey. This video shows how many people were suprised by the rapidly rising waters and trapped in their cars.
The South African International Year of Planet Earth Website has an informative .pdf document that explains the geologic hazards in that country. Earthquakes, sinkholes, unstable soils, coastal erosion, landslides, floods and tsunamis are covered in the report. A quote that I found surprising….
“The rates of seismic activity in South Africa’s gold mining districts are higher than elsewhere in the world (even than California and Japan, which are renowned for earthquakes). A typical deep-level mine records about 1 000 seismic events each day.”
Earth Observatory has a satellite image pair showing before and after scenes of flooding on the Brahmaputra River as it flows in to Bangladesh. In July, Bangladesh was suffering from a drought, now there are projections that flood waters might cover 30 percent of the country by the end of August.
The World Bank published a report in 2005 titled: “Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis,” that presents a global view of disaster risks associated with some major natural hazards such as drought, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. The report indicates that 3.4 billion people, more than half the world’s population, live in areas where at least one hazard could significantly impact them. Quoted from a Columbia University press release of 03/05.
The US Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract for rebuilding a portion of the floodwall that protects New Orleans from the waters of Lake Pontchartrain.
The Arizona Geological Survey has lots of geologic hazards information for homeowners and home buyers that can be downloaded and viewed immediately for free from their website.
Their webpage for real estate hazards includes information on floods, earthquakes, problem soils, mass movements, subsidence and earth fissures, radon, karst, abandoned mines, volcanic hazards, radon and more.
Heavy rains of up to six inches in one hour caused flash flooding in the Louisville area. Cars were stranded in the streets, schools were closed and the National Guard was sent out to rescue people trapped in flooded homes and vehicles.
Earth Observatory has satellite images that show spectacular flooding on the Amazon and Manaus Rivers in Brazil from June 2009 and June 2004. In the 2009 image the two rivers have merged and numerous buildings can be seen surrounded by flood waters.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program released a report that explains how climate change might impact Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusettes and Rhode Island. Flooding of coastal property, diminished fisheries, damaged winter tourism, impact on crops and livestock, heat waves and heavy precipitation are a few of the featured problems.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program released a report that explains how climate change might impact Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, California and New Mexico. Wildfires, increased flooding, stressed water supplies, and high temperatures are a few of the featured problems.
Extreme flooding has been occurring in the African country of Benin. The government has announced a state of emergency and is asking for outside assistance.
Quoted from the National Academy of Sciences: “Significant loss of life, destroyed property and businesses, and repairs to infrastructure could be avoided by replacing Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps with ones that contain high-accuracy and high-resolution land surface elevation data, says a new report from the National Research Council.”
What is the best way to measure precipitation and forecast floods in areas without abundant power sources? In rural Maine, USGS has an ingenious and inexpensive solution.
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Hobart King
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