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Flooding can produce widespread impacts in both rural and urban areas. Any type of agricultural, commercial, or residential development located in a floodplain is vulnerable to flooding. Increasing urbanization in some areas enhances the threat of flooding where drainage systems cannot cope with the increased input of stormwater runoff.
In rural areas, property damage caused by flooding can be devastating to farmers. When flooding occurs during the growing season, farmers can suffer widespread crop loss. In some cases, there may be an opportunity for a second planting of a less profitable crop. Livestock farmers may lose livestock if they are unable to find safety from rising floodwaters. This threat is primarily associated with flash flooding.
Flooding can pose several threats to residential and commercial properties. Buildings can experience significant damage, sometimes beyond repair, due to flooding. Household furnishings and business inventories can be lost if there is not adequate time to remove items to safe locations. In addition to being at risk because of floodwater, people face the threat of explosions and fires caused by leaking gas lines along with the possibility of being electrocuted. Even wild animals, forced out of their homes and brought into contact with humans by floodwaters, can be a threat.
Severe flooding can cause extensive damage to public utilities and disruptions to the delivery of services. Loss of power and communications can be expected. Drinking water and wastewater treatment facility may be temporarily out of operation.
Impacts of flooding on transportation are particularly noteworthy. Flooded streets and roads block transportation and make it difficult for emergency vehicles to respond to calls for service. Floodwaters can washout sections of roadway and bridges. Most importantly, the majority of fatalities that occur in floods are the result of people trying to dry on roads covered by floodwaters.
Source: http://kccserv1.estb.wku.edu/BRADD/flooding/impacts.html
Steph .
Primary effects
* Physical damage- Can range anywhere from bridges, cars, Buildings, sewer systems, roadways, canals and any other type of structure.
* Casualties- People and livestock die due to drowning. It can also lead to epidemics and diseases.
Secondary effects
* Water supplies- Contamination of water. Clean drinking water becomes scarce.
* Diseases- Unhygienic conditions. Spread of water-borne diseases
* Crops and food supplies- Shortage of food crops can be caused due to loss of entire harvest.
Tertiary/long-term effects
* Economic- Economic hardship, due to e.g. temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase etc, especially to the poor.
Source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080311231035AACGIrw
Steph .
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas - washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over icesheets or snowfields. Flash floods can also occur after the collapse of a natural ice or debris dam, or a human structure such as a man-made dam, as occurred before the Johnstown Flood of 1889. Flash floods are distinguished from a regular flood by a timescale less than six hours. The temporary availability of water is often utilised by plants with rapid germination and short growth cycle, and by specially adapted animal life.
Causes
Flash flooding occurs when a barrier holding back water fails or when water falls too quickly on saturated soil or dry soil that has poor absorption ability. The runoff collects in low-lying areas and rapidly flows downhill. Flash floods most often occur in normally dry areas that have recently received precipitation, but may be seen anywhere downstream from the source of the precipitation, even dozens of miles from the source. In areas on or near volcanoes, flash floods have also occurred after eruptions, when glaciers have been melted by the intense heat. Flash floods are known to occur in the highest mountain ranges of the United States and are also common in the arid plains of southwestern U.S.
Hazards
The United States National Weather Service gives the advice "Turn Around, Don't Drown" in reference to flash floods; that is, it recommends that people get out of the area of a flash flood, rather than trying to cross it. Many people tend to underestimate the dangers of flash floods. What makes flash floods most dangerous is their sudden nature. Being in a vehicle provides little to no protection against being swept away; it may make people overconfident and less likely to avoid the flash flood. More than half of the fatalities attributed to flash floods are people swept away in vehicles when trying to cross flooded intersections.[2] As little as two feet of water (60 cm) can be enough to carry away most SUV-sized vehicles.[3] The U.S. National Weather Service reported in 2005 that, using a national 30-year average, more people die yearly in floods, 127 on average, than by lightning, tornadoes, or hurricanes.
In deserts, flash floods can be particularly deadly for several reasons. First, storms in arid regions are infrequent, but they can deliver an enormous amount of rain in a very short time. Second, these rains often fall on poorly-absorbent and often clay-like soil, which greatly increase the amount of runoff that rivers and other water channels have to handle. In addition, these regions may not have the infrastructure that wetter regions have to divert water from structures and roads, such as storm drains and retention basins, either because of sparse population, poverty or because residents believe the risk flash floods pose is not high enough to justify the expense. In fact, in some areas, desert roads frequently cross dry river and creek beds without bridges. From the driver's perspective, there may be clear weather, when unexpectedly a river forms ahead of or around the vehicle in a matter of seconds. Finally, the lack of regular rain to clear water channels may cause flash floods in deserts to be headed by large amounts of debris, such as rocks, branches and logs.
Deep slot canyons can be especially dangerous to hikers as they may be flooded by a storm that occurs on a mesa miles away, sweeping through the canyon, making it difficult to climb up and out of the way to avoid the flood.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_flood
Steph .
Things do not change; we change
Farah Aida examines social change in Singapore
By Farah Aida
Change is the only constant in life. This constant is the cause rather than the effect that sets things in motion. By ‘things’ I mean, systems, structures, situations and circumstances that define our existence in any civilized society. The essence of these ‘things’ does not change because they shape the basic structure from which such a society may grow and flourish. However their forms or features may differ just as human faces may look different depending on an individual’s ethnicity. These days, under the skilled hands of a plastic surgeon, the features of a human face can also change. The fact that we are now scientifically capable of altering the forms of our faces to match our outfits indicates that we effect changes on things because our attitudes, needs, mindsets and expectations have and will continually undergo ‘extreme makeovers’.
As Singaporeans, we too have not been spared although it is generally believed that the patriarchal style of government instilled in our early days of Independence may have cultivated a society that seemed to change only when things change. Supporters of this viewpoint may cite the population control measures introduced in the late 60s and early 70s, which included the 1968 “Keep Your Family Small” campaign, voluntary sterilisation in 1969 and the “Stop At Two” campaign of 1971 as obvious illustrations of this perspective. So successful were these measures that our population steadily declined every year since 1975.
However, it is presumptuous to assume that government policies alone resulted in the plummeting birth rates. According to sociologists Rajakru and Yap, “modern attitudes to working life,... late marriage and single living,... made these policies... highly effective.” These considerations should not be disregarded especially when it is clear that the changes in our attitudes and expectations have made the policies of that time successful. This is in direct contrast to the intense criticism and “great public outcry” that arose with regard to measures in the 1980s to promote selective procreation based on education, economic levels and inadvertently ethnic class. Singaporeans then disagreed with the rationale behind such policies and refused to alter their mindsets to accept such a change. Consequently those measures were dissolved.
Despite our seemingly non-confrontational demeanor, we still hold our destiny in our hands. When external change occurs it is because we have made internal changes first. In 2001 Dr Kenneth Tan from the National University of Singapore wrote an article, ‘“Civic Society” And The “New Economy” In Patriarchal Singapore’, that discussed the existence of universal gender stereotypes in Singapore society; the man is regarded as the provider and protector whilst the woman is the biological producer. However just three years later, changes are already taking place. The Prime Minister’s Office released the following statement on August 25, 2004:
To keep pace with the trend that women are increasingly playing a larger role in supporting their families, the Civil Service has revised its medical benefits policy... The changes will facilitate greater sharing of care-giving responsibilities between married couples.
This media release echoes the words of incumbent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech when he said, “...we can't stand still because... our people are changing and... so must the way we govern Singapore.”
However, skeptics may say that the government, of any nation, looks into the interests of the party in power first before proceeding to address the concerns of its people. I concede that there are measures at the national level that may be unappealing, unrealistic and even disadvantageous to the individual but ultimately a self-governing system like ours must concern itself firstly with the survival of the nation before looking into the interests of individuals. In this respect, changes in the people’s expectations will cause changes in governing styles although the essence of government remains the same.
Having said this, there is however an area in which times have changed but Singaporeans have not. Although we have gained developed nation status and are supposedly more educated and affluent than our forefathers, we have deteriorated in our social graces. The then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong’s National Day Rally speech in 2001 gave mention to Singaporeans’ complacency and lack of social graces “at home and in other countries.” In this respect the forms of our human nature have not evolved to complement our economic achievements. We still hold some of the negative immigrant mentality, such as the ‘kiasu’ trait that was probably necessary in a fledgling state, but which has no place in the first world nation we presently reside in. It was William James who said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” We must therefore make a conscious effort to shed the ‘me-first’ mindset in exchange for a kinder, civil and community-conscious attitude lest our efforts at qualitative progress remain at best, mediocre.
Source: http://www.qlrs.com/essay.asp?id=414
This may be a totally different topic of 'change', it is on the social change of Singapore. However, I personally think that all changes link back to the social situation despite all the different causes of 'change', therefore I decided to include this essay as part of my research. And this essay's main idea of 'change' also has a certain link on my own essay 'Change is inevitable'.
What is change?
Change is...
Change is something that presses us out of our comfort zone. It is destiny-filtered, heart grown, faith built. Change is inequitable; not a respecter of persons. Change is for the better or for the worst, depending on where you view it. Change has an adjustment period which varies on the individual. It is uncomfortable, for changing from one state to the next upsets our control over outcomes. Change has a ripping effect on those who won’t let go. Flex is the key. Even a roller coaster ride can be fun if you know when to lean and create new balance within the change. Change is needed when all the props and practices of the past no longer work. Change is not comforted by the statement ‘just hang in there’ but with the statement ‘you can make it’. We don’t grow in retreat, but through endurance. Change isn’t fixed by crying, worrying, or mental treadmilling. Change is won by victors not victims; and that choice is ours.
Change is awkward -- at first. Change is a muscle that develops to abundantly enjoy the dynamics of the life set before us. Change calls own strength beyond anyone of us. Change pushes you to do your personal best. Change draws out those poised for a new way. Change isn’t for chickens. Change does have casualties of those defeated. Change will cause us to churn or to learn. Change changes the speed of time. Time is so slow for the reluctant, and yet it is a whirlwind for those who embrace it. Change is more fun to do than to be done to. Change seeks a better place at the end and is complete when you realize you are different.
Change is measured by its impact on all who are connected to it. Change is charged when you are dissatisfied with where you are. Change doesn’t look for a resting-place; just the next launching point. Change is only a waste to those who don’t learn from it. Change happens in the heart before it is proclaimed by our works. Change chaps those moving slower than the change itself. If you can change before you have to change, there will be less pain. Change can flow or jerk, depending on our resistance to it. Change uses the power invested in the unseen to reinvent what is seen. Change is like driving in a fog – you can’t see very far, but you can make the whole trip that way.
Change is here to stay.
Source: http://www.iienet2.org/Details.aspx?id=3290
Steph .
Hello readers!
I am Steph, from 101 in XMS. This blog, is mainly created for my Geography ATT (Authentic Task) this September Holidays.
Happy reading!
Steph .
P.S. For any enquiries regarding this project, please contact me in school Ms Ng :D
