Water, Water Everywhere
Students learn about different types of floods.Copyright VOA Indonesian Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Jakarta_flood#/media/File:VOA_A_car_tries_to_drive_through_Jakarta%27s_flooded_streets.jpg
Students learn about floods, discovering that different types of floods occur from different water sources, but primarily from heavy rainfall. While floods occur naturally and have benefits such as creating fertile farmland, with the increase in human population in flood-prone areas, floods are become increasingly problematic. Both natural and human-made factors contribute to floods. Students learn what makes floods dangerous and what engineers design to predict, control and survive floods.
Floods can be as deadly and destructive to people and property. Engineers work with geologists and meteorologists to devise ways to control flooding with a range of human-made structures: dams, dikes, levees, flood gates, seawalls, drainage canals, sewer/water/storm drainage systems, pumping stations, bridges, concrete river banks, spillways, overflow basins, embankments, retention ponds and wetlands restoration. To aid in prediction and planning, engineers and scientists also develop instruments and computer programs to monitor weather (precipitation, temperature, snow pack, etc.), and develop complex models to estimate worst-case-scenario storm surges and flood risks.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Define flooding as involving heavy rainfall or snowmelt.
- List three types of flooding.
- Identify reasons why humans tend to settle in floodplains.
- Explain that engineers design dams, dikes and levees to control flooding.