Flash flood: Difference between revisions

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== flash flood ==
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<div class="definition"><div class="short_definition">A [[flood]] that rises and falls quite rapidly with little or no advance [[warning]], usually as the result of intense [[rainfall]] over a relatively small area.</div><br/> <div class="paragraph">Some possible causes are [[ice jams]], dam failure, and [[topography]].</div><br/> </div>
<div class="definition"><div class="short_definition">[[Flooding]] caused by rapidly rising [[water]] level in [[streams]], creeks, [[rivers]], or other waterways, normally dry stream beds, or in urban areas, usually as a result of intense [[rainfall]] over a relatively small area or for moderate to intense rainfall over highly saturated or impervious land surfaces, and generally occurring within minutes to several hours of the rainfall event.</div><br/> <div class="paragraph">Steep terrain tends to concentrate [[runoff]] into streams very quickly and is often a contributing factor. Changes in soil properties (e.g., burn areas from wildfires), hydrophobic or impervious soils, removal of surface vegetation, and excess runoff from warm rainfall on significant [[snowpack]] can also be important contributors. Additional causes of flash floods include [[ice jams]] and levee and dam failures.</div><br/> </div>
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<p>''Term updated 24 April 2017.''</p>


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Latest revision as of 11:52, 24 April 2017



flash flood

Flooding caused by rapidly rising water level in streams, creeks, rivers, or other waterways, normally dry stream beds, or in urban areas, usually as a result of intense rainfall over a relatively small area or for moderate to intense rainfall over highly saturated or impervious land surfaces, and generally occurring within minutes to several hours of the rainfall event.

Steep terrain tends to concentrate runoff into streams very quickly and is often a contributing factor. Changes in soil properties (e.g., burn areas from wildfires), hydrophobic or impervious soils, removal of surface vegetation, and excess runoff from warm rainfall on significant snowpack can also be important contributors. Additional causes of flash floods include ice jams and levee and dam failures.

Term updated 24 April 2017.


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