How To Solve A Flood Problem?

While it is almost impossible to completely solve a flood problem, there are a number of steps that can be carried out to try and prevent floods and to reduce the amount of damage that they cause.

The preventions of flood problems can be categorized as dams, river defenses and coastal defenses. These methods will be used within the circumstances that they are best suited to. While not all defenses are successful, many towns and cities will implement them with the hope that they will prevent and decrease damage. Fast floods are extremely difficult to stop and often, like with many other natural hazards, there is not a lot that can be done to solve them.

• Dams

These are barriers that impound water or underground streams. They are set up to retain water in a specific area. Dams stop the water from flowing through excessively and enable the collection of water, or reservoir, to be distributed in a more even manner. Dams need to be strong enough to cope with a sudden increase in water because, should the dam break, it could be the cause of a flood itself.

• River defenses

In towns and cities where a river flows through the center, it is essential that the river flow is managed. Flooded rivers in town centers can cause excessive damage to property and transport systems and cost the city a lot of money. River defenses usually include reservoirs, levees, bunds and weirs. These all help prevent the banks from over flowing. Cities will also have emergency flood control systems, such as sandbags, in place for when the river does overflow.

• Coastal defenses

Sea walls, beach nourishment and barrier islands have all been installed near counties that experience coastal flooding. These defense systems attempt to stop of reduce the excessive flow of water reaching land.

Although flood problems cannot be completely solved, there are strategies that can be carried out to reduce the amount of damage that they cause.