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During the flood, stormwater or water released from damaged water mains may accumulate on property and in public rights-of-way. It can seep through building walls and floors, or backup into buildings through sewer pipes, cellars, toilets and sinks. There are several types of urban flooding, each with a different cause.
Really bad floods are caused by really brief spikes of river level. Channellization in concrete chutes speeds the water up and makes the flood peak higher, while slowing the water down spreads the flow out over time and blunts the flood peak. Water levels during a flood tend to rise, then fall, exponentially.
[22]: 560 It causes people without reliable water access to travel long distances to fetch water for household and agricultural uses. Such water is often unclean. The United Nations Development Programme says economic water scarcity is the most common cause of water scarcity. This is because most countries or regions have enough water to meet ...
In recognition of the need for improved access to potable water supplies in the developing world, as part of the Millennium Development Goals is to halve the number of people who lack access to potable water by 2015. [60] This led to the adoption and utilization of rainwater harvesting to increase portable water supply.
In urban areas, surface runoff is the primary cause of urban flooding, known for its repetitive and costly impact on communities. [38] Adverse impacts span loss of life, property damage, contamination of water supplies, loss of crops, and social dislocation and temporary homelessness. Floods are among the most devastating of natural disasters.
[11]: 5 The World Water Council also uses this more specific approach with a focus on water supply. "Water security refers to the availability of water, in adequate quantity and quality, to sustain all these needs together (social and economic sectors, as well as the larger needs of the planet's ecosystems) – without exceeding its ability to ...
Gastrointestinal disease and diarrheal diseases are very common due to a lack of clean water during a flood. Clean water supplies are often contaminated when flooding occurs. Hepatitis A and E are common because of the lack of sanitation in the water and in living quarters, depending on where the flood is and how prepared the community is for a ...
These include rising sea levels, increased flooding risk, changes to the makeup of the land (e.g. a habitable area becoming a wetland), coastal erosion, increased susceptibility to dangerous cyclones, droughts, water shortages, wildfires, and other factors, all of which can overlap with each other to enhance the risk of danger or inhabitability ...