The devastation caused by floods over time is hard to take in, but also necessary. Luckily we have learned from these disasters and are better prepared for storms today because of it. To fully understand the effect floods have on civilizations please enjoy the following list of the top 10 most devastating floods in history.
1. Huang He (Yellow) River, China 1931
Death Toll: 1,000,000 to 3,700,000
The Huang He river is prone to flooding due to the surrounding low plains. A high silt content in the river (which also gives the river its name, “yellow”) causes the river to gain volume, helping it to rise above the plains. Death tolls are often high because there are so many people in the surrounding area and no real way to escape.
2. Huang He (Yellow) River, China 1887
Death Toll: 900,000 to 2,000,000
For years, farmers living along the yellow river were building dikes to protect their land from the rising waters. During a bad 2 day storm, the waters rose too rapidly for them to contain, and their dikes were overpowered and lands flooded. At the time, it was one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded, and still is among the worst.
3. Huang He (Yellow) River, China 1938
Death Toll: 500,000 - 900,000
In 1938, Nationalist Chinese troops actually broke the levees themselves hoping to turn back advancing Japanese troops. Although it did work to some extent, the death toll was very high.
4. Huang He (Yellow) River, China 1642
Death Toll: 300,000
Chinese rebels along the city of Kaifeng and destroyed the dikes. The area lost roughly half of its residents, making it the 2nd largest loss of human life at the time. The city was abandoned after the flood until 1662.
5. Ru River, Banqiao Dam, China 1975
Death Toll: 230,000
Heavy rain caused by a typhoon caused the collapse of the Banquia Dam along with several others. The water accumulated was more than a years worth of normal rainfall.
6. Yangtze River, China 1931
Death Toll: 145,000
The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia, and the third longest in the world. Unfortunately, it has such a tendency to flood they’ve had over 1,000 floods. The river is so large it receives water from both Northern and Southern flanks, contributing largely to its flooding.
7. The Netherlands and England 1099
Death Toll: 100,000
100,000 were killed when high tides and storms flooded the Thames and the Netherlands.
8. The Netherlands 1287
Death Toll: 50,000
The polder was flooded due to the failure of a seawall on the Zuider Zee, a complicated dam system protecting the surrounding areas.
9. The Neva River, Russia 1824
Death Toll: 10,000
Before the flood, there had been a very cold winter. Ice backed up the river for days, and water backed up behind the ice. When the natural ice dam broke, water flooded everywhere uniting canals and streets alike.
10. The Netherlands 1421
Death Toll: 10,000
Although the Zuider Zee had prevented many floods in the past, it would fail to stop some of the stronger storms. In 1421 another failure of a seawall on the Zuider Zee caused the flood.
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