More powerful than Dubai, these are the 9 biggest flash floods in the world

JAKARTA – Major floods paralyze the metropolis Dubai on Tuesday (16/4/2024) due to heavy rain accompanied by a storm. History records this event is not the first in the world.

There have been at least nine major flash floods that have hit various corners of the world resulting in many casualties and incalculable material losses. The causes of flash floods vary, ranging from natural factors to environmental damage caused by irresponsible hands.

Reporting from History.com, Saturday (20/4/2024) the following is a list of the largest flash floods in the world recorded in history.

1. Johnstown Flood

The first largest flash flood in the world was the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. This flood was so big that it was described as equivalent to the flow of the Mississippi River. The flood was caused by the dam on Lake Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, breaking after several days of heavy rain. An estimated 16 million tons of water poured in, creating a wave of mud and debris 40 feet high and half a mile wide.

The huge wave then hit Johnstown, destroying 1,600 buildings and sweeping away everything in its path. In this incident more than 2,200 people died and were injured and homeless.

2. Central China flood

The second largest flash flood in the world was the flood in central China in 1931. This flood was so powerful that it claimed thousands of lives. The causes of this flood were heavy melting snow, heavy rain and seven cyclonic storms.

In July alone at that time, China was hit with as much rain as it usually receives in a year and a half. By August, the embankments of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Huai River had all breached and flooded an area larger than England. Thousands died by drowning during the initial stages of the flood, but many more followed due to widespread famine and outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, typhus, and dysentery.

3. Great Drowning of Men

This massive flood was the result of a fierce North Sea storm that hit parts of Europe in January 1362. The impact of the overnight storm was first felt in England, but the damage was more severe in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, which experienced a powerful storm surge that destroyed almost every embankment. the river it flows through. It is estimated that 25,000 to 100,000 people drowned in this flood.

Elsewhere in the lowlands, flood-induced erosion permanently changed coastlines and led to the disappearance of entire islands. Together with other storms during the Middle Ages, this flood also played a role in forming the shallow North Sea bay in the Netherlands known as the Zuiderzee.

4. Flooding of the Indus River Valley

The fourth largest flash flood in the world occurred in 1841 in the Indus river basin.
The problems began in January that year, when an earthquake triggered a massive landslide on the slopes of Nanga Parbat, a Himalayan peak located in Pakistan. So much rock collapsed from the mountain that it blocked the powerful flow of the Indus River and created a lake 500 feet deep and tens of miles long.

When the natural dam finally broke in June, the lake emptied at a rate of 540,000 cubic meters per second, releasing a giant flood wave nearly 100 feet high. Casualties from the disaster were not recorded, but it is known to have wreaked havoc across several hundred miles of the Indus Valley. Entire villages were wiped off the map and the entire Sikh force of 500 men was reportedly wiped out near the town of Attock.

5. American Flood

The fifth largest flash flood in the world occurred in the United States. In the spring of 1927, after months of unrelenting rain, the lower Mississippi River overflowed its banks and broke its banks. The resulting floodwaters inundated approximately 16 million hectares of territory in seven states, from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans. The worst damage was in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, where rivers flooded so much land that they temporarily created shallow seas more than 120 kilometers wide and forced thousands of people to be evacuated by boat. By the time the waters receded at the end of that summer, at least 250 people had died and 1 million had been forced to flee their homes.

6. Italian floods

The sixth largest flash flood in the world occurred in Italy in 1966. The deluge began on November 4, when a period of heavy rain caused the Arno River to overflow, sending 18 billion gallons of mud and sludge gushing through the streets of Florence. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, but the water also reached several art galleries and libraries containing valuable artifacts from the Renaissance era.

About 1.5 million books are buried in the Biblioteca Nazionale. Elsewhere in the city, floodwaters destroyed or damaged 1,500 murals, statues and paintings. After the disaster, an international group of volunteers known as the Mud Angels descended on Florence to collect rubble and rescue waterlogged canvases and manuscripts. The team saved many works of art, but in many cases, the restoration process took decades.

7. China Flood in 1938

During the Second Sino-Japanese War in June 1938, Chinese Nationalist forces deliberately destroyed several embankments on the Yellow River to deter invading Japanese troops. They hoped this tactic would block Japanese access to the railroad and slow troops westward. What happened was an environmental disaster.

After the muddy river was released, it deviated from its course and flooded an area of ​​21,000 square miles in the country’s central Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. An estimated 4 million people were displaced from their homes, and 800,000 people died from drowning, disease, and starvation following the relentless flooding. This disaster lasted throughout the rest of the war. It was not until 1947 that engineers and workers succeeded in returning the Yellow River to its original course.

8. Floods in Great Britain

The great flood in Great Britain occurred on January 30, 1607, when a huge wave of sea water swept across approximately 200 square miles of southwestern England and Wales, submerging at least 20 villages. Some researchers speculate the floods were caused by a large tsunami caused by an earthquake, but others think typhoon tides and spring tides are more likely to blame. Whatever the cause, the floods were particularly damaging to the low-lying areas surrounding the Bristol Channel, where around 2,000 people died. In Somerset, floodwaters overflowed 15 miles inland and briefly turned the famous hill at Glastonbury Tor into an island.

9. Libya floods

The next biggest flash flood in the world is Libya floods on September 12, 2023.
In this incident, it is estimated that more than 5,000 people died and 10,000 people were missing. Major flooding occurred after heavy rains and storms hit northeastern Libya causing a dam above the city of Derna to collapse, allowing water to overflow into areas that were already flooded. The flood swept away vehicles on the road and cut off road access. Resulting in trees falling and flooding houses and other public facilities.

(msf)