The 12 Worst Floods of All Time

The 12 Worst Floods of All Time — page 1 — 1 Netherlands City Lost After Massive Storm Surge The Netherlands is a small country in northwest Europe along the North Sea About half of its land area is less than 3 3 feet 1 m above sea level In fact the word Netherlands means low country in Dutch The nation has dikes dams and drainage systems to hold back water This infrastructure is not always enough to prevent flooding On November 5 1530 a large storm hit the Netherlands It caused a massive storm surge from the North Sea A wall of water rushed inland and washed away everything in its path Whole villages disappeared As many as 125,000 people lost their lives in the flooding Depiction of how the city of Reimerswaal became an island as a result of the flooding

The 12 Worst Floods of All Time — page 2 — The city of Reimerswaal sat a few feet higher than the surrounding area It became an island People tried to build new dams to hold back the water around the city They wanted to reclaim the land that was lost Nothing worked The area around the city remained flooded This led to the end of Reimerswaal Isolated by water residents deserted the city Today the area is a salt marsh 18 Number of villages washed away in the flood Much of the Netherlands lies at or below sea level A storm surge on November 5 1530 sent a wall of water inland Up to 125,000 people died in the flooding The flood led to Reimerswaal being deserted Map showing the area in the Netherlands that was affected by flooding THINK ABOUT IT Before modern technology how did people living by the North Sea build dikes and dams How is technology being used today to prevent flooding Research online to learn more

The 12 Worst Floods of All Time — page 3 — 2 China’s Sorrow Creates Widespread Destruction The Yellow River in China is often called China’s Sorrow This is because it has flooded more than a thousand times over two millennia Yellow River floods have killed more people than any other river in the world For two thousand years China has tried to tame the Yellow River Dikes and dams have been built along the river Channels have been created to protect farms and villages from high waters These actions have not stopped the flooding In fact they have caused silt to build up in Illustration of the 1887 flood

The 12 Worst Floods of All Time — page 4 — Spillway of the Sanmenxia Dam on the Yellow River the river bed This has raised water levels As a result levees must be built higher But the higher levees are built the more dangerous floodwaters are in a breach Floods in 1887 showed just how deadly the Yellow River could be During September and October of that year heavy rains fell Dikes in the Henan province failed Water poured over them into the low-lying plains below Flooding covered 5,000 square miles 12,950 sq km of land This included 11 large towns and many more villages Up to 2 million people lost their lives in the flood Millions of others were left homeless Farmlands were also destroyed THINK ABOUT IT Experts worry global warming will increase the number of catastrophic floods How might this problem be addressed Go online to learn how rising temperatures relate to flooding 3,000 Miles 4,828 km the Yellow River flows across China The Chinese have tried to tame the Yellow River for centuries Dikes and dams have been built to prevent flooding In the fall of 1887 heavy rains fell overflowing dikes in the Henan Province Water poured into the plains below destroying homes and farmlands

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