21 Flood Facts For Kids

1. A flood is when an excessive overflow of water submerges an area that is normally dry.
2. Flooding is very dangerous, it can cause a lot of property damage, deny access to an area and result in loss of life.
3. A flash flood (flooding that happens quickly) can come out of nowhere, endangering human lives and property.
4. Flood waters are dangerous, debris flowing freely in the water can cause injury or death. Additionally, it doesn’t take much water for large objects, like cars and sheds, to float.
5. Flooding in home is also dangerous, electrical related injuries and deaths are common. Make sure your power is disconnected at the breaker box before you venture into indoor flooded waters.
6. Stagnant and trapped flood water can also pose a health hazard, they are breeding ground for pests, bacteria, and parasites.
7. Floods can be divided into one of five different types of flooding, which are inland flooding, river flooding, coastal flooding, urban flooding, and catastrophic flooding.
8. Inland flooding is caused by extended periods of precipitation that saturate the ground and cause a rise in surface bodies of water.
9. River flooding is caused by a river that is overflowing its banks due to excessive precipitation (rain, snow, etc.).
10. Coastal flooding is caused by storm surges that cause rapidly rising sea levels and floods a coastline and inland for miles.
11. Urban flooding is caused by the inundation of manmade drainage systems by stormwater.
12. Catastrophic flooding is caused by the failure of manmade infrastructure, such as a dam or levee.
13. The National Weather Service (NWS) monitors the weather and issues flooding watches or warnings if there are potential conditions for flooding.
14. A flood watch is issued when the conditions are right to create some form of flooding in the next 6 to 48 hours.
15. A flood warning is issued as soon as there is imminent evidence some form of flooding will occur or flooding is in progress.
16. In the United States, losses related to flooding for the last decade (2001-2021) exceed $500 billion dollars.
17. In the United States, an average of 140 people lose their lives due to flooding every year.
18. A common and deadly flood myth is you can drive your car through flood waters if they’re not high. The truth is small vehicles can float and get carried away by rushing flood water. In fact, even an SUV or pick-up truck can get swept away by as little as two feet of water.
19. One of the worst catastrophic flooding events in the United States was the Johnstown Flood. This flood occurred on May 31st in 1889 when the South Fork Dam near South Fork, PA failed. The resulting flooding kill more than 2,200 people.
20. According to past flooding records, the deadliest flood in world history was the 1931 China floods. This historic flood occurred between July and November in 1931. It’s estimated up to 4,000,000 people died as a direct and indirect result of the 1931 Yangtze–Huai River floods.
21. There are a lot of flood related terms that get through around by the media and on the internet. For example, you may hear that a flooding river is cresting or has crested. That means the river is reaching or has reached its highest level of water.

Flood Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on floods. Below are six pictures of flood damage and destruction. These pictures should help you better understand the power of flooding water.

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