<p> <strong><u>Definition: </u></strong>An unusual accumulation of water above the ground caused by high tide, heavy rain, melting snow or rapid runoff from paved areas. (EEA) </p> <p> Floods usually are local, short-lived events that can happen suddenly, sometimes with little or no warning. They usually are caused by intense storms that produce more runoff than an area can store or a stream can carry within its normal channel. Rivers can also flood when dams fail, when ice jams or landslides temporarily block a channel, or when snow melts rapidly. In a broader sense, normally dry lands can be flooded by high lake levels, by high tides, or by waves driven ashore by strong winds. Small streams, particularly in the Southwest, are subject to flash floods (very rapid increases in runoff), which may last from a few minutes to a few hours. On larger streams, floods usually last from several hours to a few days. A series of storms might keep a river above flood stage (the water level at which a river overflows its banks) for several weeks.<br /> <br /> Floods can occur at any time, but weather patterns have a strong influence on when and where floods happen. Natural processes, such as hurricanes, weather systems, and snowmelt, can cause floods. Failure of levees and dams and inadequate drainage in urban areas can also result in flooding. On average, floods kill about 140 people each year and cause $6 billion in property damage.<br /> <br /> Although loss of life to floods during the past half-century has declined, mostly because of improved warning systems, economic losses have continued to rise due to increased urbanization and coastal development.<br /> <br /> Flood-control dams have been built on many streams and rivers to store storm runoff and reduce flooding downstream. Although the same volume of water must eventually move down the river, the peak flow (the largest rate of streamflow during a flood) can be reduced by temporarily storing water and releasing it when river levels have fallen. Levees are artificial river banks built to control the spread of flood waters and to limit the amount of land covered by floods. Levees provide protection from some floods but can be over-topped or eroded away by large floods. </p> 2012-01-23T12:28:22Z tag:www.emwis.net,2012-01-23:/topics/floods http://www.emwis.net/misc_/SEMIDE/Site.gif Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-30:/topics/floods/url765192 2010-10-30T06:16:30Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

Last 27th March 2007, a large wave of effluence from an emergency filtration basin at the waste water<BR>treatment plant in Beit Lahia in north western Gaza flooded into the nearby Bedouin village of Um Al Nasser.

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-30:/topics/floods/flash-foods-egypt-protection-and-management 2010-10-30T10:24:07Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

<span style="font-size: 11px" class="Apple-style-span"><a style="color: #557ba1" href="initiatives/fol060732/flash-foods-egypt-protection-and-management" title="Although Sinai Peninsula of Egypt suffers from severe water shortages, flash floods are responsible for the loss of lives, a severe blow to regional development, the main source of soil erosion and accidental pollution. The main objective of the project is to develop and to implement an integrated flash flood management plan for Wadi Watier (South Sinai). This consists of an innovative early warning system, named Flash Flood Manager (FlaFloM) together with integrated management plans based on stakeholder participation. The early warning system has been developed under the FlaFloM project by a Belgian-Egyptian team. The team consists of the Egyptian Water Resources Research Insititute (WRRI), the Belgian consultancy company SORESMA and the Free University of Brussels. The project has been developed in close collaboration with Prof. Dr. Gamal Salah El-Afandi (Al Azhar University, Cairo), the South Sinai Crisis and Disaster Management Centre and the municipality of Nuweiba City. The contract for the pilot area around Nuweiba City has a value of 800,000 Euro. 70% is financed by the European Commission (LIFE Fund) and 30% by Egypt. ; The early warning system has been in operation for only one month. In December 2009, the technology was presented in the presence of Dr. Mohamed Nasr el-din Allam, the Minister of Water and Irrigation and General Mohamed Hany Metwally, the Governor of South Sinai. In order to protect the whole Sinai and the Red Sea Coast, they expressed their interest to extend the current early warning system beyond the pilot region. The Sultanate of Oman also expressed interest for the technology. ;">Flash Foods in Egypt: Protection and Management</a></span>

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-26:/topics/floods/idrc-davos-special-session-flash-flood 2010-10-26T00:02:08Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-27:/topics/floods/initial-workshop-regional-flash-flood-guidance 2010-10-27T18:02:29Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-27:/topics/floods/associated-programme-flood-management-apfm 2010-10-27T17:42:19Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-27:/topics/floods/early-warning-systems-context-disaster-risk 2010-10-27T03:22:53Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-25:/topics/floods/eu-floods-directive-pilot-implementation-lee 2010-10-25T13:12:53Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2010-10-29:/topics/floods/early-warning-systems 2010-10-29T23:54:21Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2011-08-17:/topics/floods/conclusions-du-conseil-sur-la-gestion-integree-des-risques-d-inondation-au-sein 2011-08-17T12:09:44Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

tag:www.emwis.net,2012-01-04:/topics/floods/zaragoza-declaration-expert-meeting-flood-forecasting-mediterranean-basin 2012-01-04T16:23:24Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

<p><strong>Zaragoza, Spain, 28 September 2006</strong></p>

tag:www.emwis.net,2012-01-23:/topics/floods/floods-directive-viewer 2012-01-23T12:28:22Z Jauad El-Kharraz Jauad El-Kharraz

<p>What is on this Floods Directive map? River Basin Districts (RBDs) are the main units for the management of river basins and have been delineated by Member States under Article 3 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). For the Floods Directive, Member States were given the choice to use either the WFD River Basin Districts, or to designate other Units of Management (UoM) for specific river basins or stretches of coastal areas under article 3 of that Directive. For Ireland and Italy such smaller UoM were designated. For the other EU Member States the same RBD as for the WFD therefore applies. The geographic area of some RBDs span more than one country (such as the Danube) and these are known as International RBDs. These RBDs are shown in yellow/orange. Others are contained completely within a country and are known as National RBDs, and are shown in light purple/light blue.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>--<br /><dt>Water</dt><dd class="portletItem"><a href="http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/interactive/soe-wfd/wfd-rbd">WFD: River Basin District Info Viewer</a></dd><dd class="portletItem"><a href="http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/interactive/soe-wfd/wfd-gw">WFD: Ground Water Viewer</a></dd><dd class="portletItem"><a href="http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/interactive/soe-wfd/wfd-surface">WFD: Surface Water Viewer</a></dd><dd class="portletItem"><br /></dd></p> <h3 class="tileHeadline"><a href="http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/wise-river-basin-districts-rbds-1" title="River Basin Districts (RBDs) and/or their subunits (RBDSUs) are the main units for the management of river basins and have been delineated by Member States under Article 3 and updated by reporting to Article 13 of the Water Framework Directive.">WISE River basin districts (RBDs) - version 1.4 (06/2011)</a></h3>