Flooding
Flooding occurs when surface water from rivers, heavy rainfall, or coastal surge overflows or inundates normally dry land, often causing damage to property, disruption to services, and loss of life. Floods can be classified as fluvial (river flooding), pluvial (rainfall flooding), or coastal (storm surge).
Real World
The 2007 Tewkesbury floods in Gloucestershire, England, left 350,000 homes without clean water for up to 17 days after a water treatment works was inundated — illustrating how fluvial flooding cascades into public health crises.
Exam Focus
Structure flood cause answers by separating physical causes (precipitation intensity, geology) from human causes (urbanisation, deforestation) for clear marks.
How well did you know this?