34 Facts About Floods

Here are 34 Flood facts

1-5 Flood Facts

1. There is enough water in Lake Superior to flood the entire landmasses of North and South America to a depth of 1 foot. It contains over 3 quadrillion gallons of fresh water. – Source

2. The extent of North Korea’s personality cult is such that in 2012 a 14-year-old North Korean schoolgirl drowned while attempting to rescue portraits of the two “supreme leaders” from a flood. – Source

3. There are 5 enormous cylindrical shafts underneath of Tokyo, Japan which fill with water in case of a flood so it does not to destroy the city. – Source

4. There is a pagoda built in 1049 from the Chinese Song dynasty and it has experienced six floods, 38 earthquakes, and many other disasters, but it remains intact after almost 1000 years. – Source

5. A drunk North Korean man passed out on a wooden board to find himself in South Korea the next day as a flood washed him and the board to an island controlled by South Korea. – Source

6-10 Flood Facts

6. India has proposed to link 67 rivers to prevent floods and droughts. By doing so, an area equivalent to that of Germany will be irrigated. – Source

7. Downtown Seattle actually sits on top of the original city from the 1800s. It was rebuilt on top of ~20-foot high walled tunnels following a great fire, in order to prevent floods from high tide and sewage. You can go underground to see the original city remnants. – Source

8. The Aztecs believed themselves to be living in the fifth world. The fourth was destroyed by flood, the third by fire, the second by hurricanes and the first when jaguars ate everybody. – Source

9. In the 2009 Philippines floods, a teenager named Muelmar Magallanes saved 30 lives. After leaping into the rushing waters to save his family from danger, he repeatedly jumped back in to save others, including a trapped mother and baby, until too tired to fight the current he was swept away. – Source

10. After a flood several years ago, a handful of bull sharks found themselves stranded in a lake on a golf course. Bull sharks are able to survive in freshwater and rather than this lake posing an issue for survival, the six sharks have thrived and even started breeding. – Source

11-15 Flood Facts

11. During the Great flood of 93, James Scott, 23 intentionally removed sandbags from a levee causing it to breach so he could strand his wife on the other side and continue to party. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. – Source

12. There are 30+ different stories from all over the world, that detail a Worldwide flood. – Source

13. In 1889 a dam owned by an exclusive hunting and fishing club gave way, causing a flood that killed 2,209 people in southern Pennsylvania. The club’s members included many of the richest men in America and efforts to hold it legally responsible went nowhere. – Source

14. The ancient Egyptians measured the flood levels of the Nile and levied taxes according to how high water levels were. If the water level indicated there would be a strong harvest, taxes would be higher. – Source

15. In India, there are 500 years old bridges weaved from living roots that can withstand the monsoon floods and don’t ever rot, instead they grow stronger with time. – Source

16-20 Flood Facts

16. In 1985, a volcano in Colombia that was covered in glaciers erupted, instantly melting the glaciers. Two hours later, a 100 ft deep flood of rock and water traveling 39 feet per second leveled an entire nearby village, killing 20,000 out of its 29,000 residents. – Source

17. There was once a plan to flood below sea level areas of the Sahara, creating large inland seas that would bring humid air, rain, and agriculture deep into the desert. – Source

18. The Amazon Rainforest loses about 22,000 tons of the phosphorus in its soil due to floods every year. The Amazon remains so fertile because the dust of a dried up lake in the Sahara Desert traveling through the atmosphere feeds the Amazon’s plants the phosphorus it lost. – Source

19. During WWI Belgium opened their sluices to allow seawater to flow in and flood their country to prevent German occupation. They held their front for the duration of the war. – Source

20. In 1786, a 7.75 magnitude earthquake triggered a massive landslide that dammed the Dadu River in Sichuan, China, creating a huge lake. 10 days later, the dam broke and the resulting flood extended 1400 km (870 mi) downstream, killing 100,000 people. – Source