Latest Flood Stories

China's farmers and merchants should take advantage of new agricultural and business opportunities that could help mitigate some effects of the annual flooding behind the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, according to an Ohio State University wetland expert.The level of water in the reservoir behind the dam will top off at 575 feet above sea level during the coming winter. The reservoir pool, covering abandoned cities, houses and farm fields formerly populated by an estimated 1.5 million...

By Tony Henderson RECENT flooding has been part of the price for the way the landscape has been changed in the past, a North river scientist has said. "We are paying the price for not thinking about how our management of the land impacts negatively on the water environment," said Professor Stuart Lane, executive director of the Institute of Hazard and Risk at Durham University. Prof Lane said past measures, such as digging drainage grips in upland moors, had caused major...

An anticipated increased incidence of climate-related extreme rainfall events in the Great Lakes region may raise the public health risk for the 40 million people who depend on the lakes for their drinking water, according to a new study.In a report published Tuesday (Oct. 7, 2008) in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, a team of Wisconsin researchers reports that a trend toward extreme weather such as the monsoon-like rainfall events that occurred in many parts of the region this...

A MORE joined-up approach to managing water is urgently needed in the face of the growing risk of flooding and drought, the National Trust warned yesterday. A report from the trust, which owns 650,000 acres in Wales, England and Northern Ireland, said land managers should be paid to manage land to protect against floods, deliver clean water supplies, help wildlife and store carbon - and not just to grow food. The trust's director general Fiona Reynolds said the country was living with a...

SCIENTISTS at the University of Liverpool have tested an 'invisibility cloak' that could protect against tsunamis. City mathematicians, working with European physicists, have found that coastal defences could be made 'invisible' when water is guided through a special structure called metamaterial. Dr Sebastien Guenneau, from the University's Department of Mathematical Science, said: "Defending land against flooding and tidal waves is a big issue for scientists and engineers all over the...

More than 300 people in the eastern Thai province of Chachoengsao have become ill from flood-related diseases, officials said. The Thai News Agency reported Friday that heavy and continuing rains caused recurring floods in three districts -- Phanom Sarakham, Ban Pho and Plaeng Yao. Public health authorities have sent 20,000 pairs of boots and mosquito nets to help prevent the outbreak of leptospirosis and other endemic diseases that could be transmitted through the contaminated water....

Text of report in English by Thai newspaper Bangkok Post website on 23 September [Report by Apinya Wipatayotin: "SINO-THAI COOPERATION: Joint monsoon study agreed"] Scientists from Thailand and China will jointly study the monsoon and cyclone pattern in the Andaman sea in the hope of better forecasting weather in the region. The Marine Biological Centre in Phuket and the First Institute of Oceanography in China will sign an agreement on the development of the observation buoy system in the...

By Jodi Rogstad By Jodi Rogstad jrogstad@wyomingnews.com CHEYENNE - To Cheyenne's earliest settlers, the tan prairie and ribbon-thin creeks betrayed no hint whatsoever that these lands could flood. Today, despite proof to the contrary, that belief seems to prevail. Twice, in 2000 and 2004, Cheyenne voters rejected a storm sewer utility. Also, only 30 percent of Cheyenne residents have flood insurance - and these are the people who live in areas prone to flooding. Meanwhile, the city...

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released new advisory floodplain maps for Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley cities and counties. "Many of the existing flood maps do not reflect the most accurate information about the flooding potential," said DWR Director Lester Snow. "The new DWR floodplain maps will help provide a better understanding of the true risk of flooding to public safety and property." The maps are available at...

By ALASTAIR CRAIG FORGET expensive man-made defences-the humble beaver could be the solution to devastating floods. Wildlife expert Kevin O'Hara believes they could combat growing problems with flooding in the North East. When there's heavy rain, their dams and canals can divert flood waters away from areas of human population which are usually further downstream. The beavers also create natural wetland wildlife havens so other species thrive around them. In the UK it costs millions...