Heavy hailstorms, river floods and sudden melting of snow sometimes lead to catastrophic consequences - the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of people, causing significant material damage and destroying infrastructure. This is not the first time the world's largest floods have shown a person who is really in charge of the earth.
Flood in China in 1931
One of the largest floods in the world happened in China at the end of the first third of the twentieth century. From 1928 to 1930, the country suffered from a very severe drought, but in the winter of 1930 there were constant snowstorms, and in the spring - incessant downpours and a sharp warming, due to which the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers overflowed, the banks were washed away, and the water began to wash away nearby settlements. In the Yangtze River, the water level has risen by seventy centimeters in just one summer month.
The river overflowed and reached the then capital of China - the city of Nanjing. Many drowned or died from water-borne infections (typhoid, cholera, and others). There are known cases among desperate localskilling children and cannibalism during this difficult time. According to local sources, about 145 thousand people died, while Western sources claimed that between 3.7 and 4 million people were among the dead.
Huanghe Disaster
The other big flood in the world also happened in China, just a few decades earlier. In 1887, it rained incessantly for many days in the Huang He province, as a result, the water level rose and the dams broke. The water soon reached the city of Zhengzhou, located in this province, and then spread throughout northern China, that is, an area of approximately 1300 km2. About two million people as a result of one of the worst floods in the world were left homeless, killing nine hundred thousand local residents.
Flood of Saint Felix in 1630
On the day of St. Felix de Valois - one of the founders of the order of the Trinitarians - most of Flanders, the historical region of the Netherlands and the province of Zeeland, were washed away with water. It is assumed that more than a hundred thousand inhabitants became victims of the raging elements. The day when the natural disaster happened, subsequently began to be called Evil Saturday in this area.
Flood of Saint Mary Magdalene
Floods happen everywhere in the world. The largest in Central Europe (of the documented ones) happened on the day of memory of Mary Magdalene in the summer of 1342. This memorable date is celebrated by the Lutheran and Catholic Churches on the twenty-second of July. In a daycatastrophes overflowing the banks of the Danube, Werra, Unstrut, Moselle, Rhine, Main, Elbe, Vltava and Moselle flooded the surroundings. Many cities were seriously damaged. Würzburg, Mainz, Frankfurt am Main, Vienna, Cologne and others suffered.
After a long dry summer followed by heavy rains for several days in a row, approximately half the annual rainfall fell. Dry soil did not absorb such a huge amount of water. Many houses were destroyed and thousands of people died. The total number of victims of one of the worst floods in the world is unknown, but it is believed that about six thousand local residents drowned in the coastal areas of the Danube alone.
The following summer, cold and wet, the population was left without a crop and suffered greatly from hunger. The plague epidemic was added to the troubles, which reached its peak in 1348-1350, taking the lives of at least a third of the population of central Europe. The Black Death affected the natives of Asia, North Africa, Europe and Greenland.
Tragedy in Thailand in 2011-2012
The natural disaster was caused by the strongest rains in the last half century in the central, northern and northeastern provinces of the country. From there, through the lowlands, the water went to Bangkok. In total, sixty-five provinces out of seventy-six were affected, more than thirteen thousand people died. The rains caused tropical storm Nok-ten, which hit Thailand on July 5, 2011.
The flooding continued for quite some time. As a result, several industrial zones where factories were located were flooded.automobile corporations, hard drive factories, fifteen thousand other enterprises and eight hundred thousand residential buildings, one and a half million hectares of agricultural land and 12.5% of rice fields in Thailand, the second largest airport in the country. Material damage was estimated at a minimum of $24.3 billion (maximum $43 billion).
Flood in Australia 2010-2011
One of the latest floods in the world (of the largest) occurred in the Australian state of Queensland. During the Christmas holidays, there were heavy showers as a result of tropical cyclone Tasha. As a result, the water level in the rivers exceeded the maximum values. In early January 2010, a natural disaster affected the state capital and the Lockyer Valley, washing away everything in its path. Only twenty-three people became victims of the elements, but this is only because the authorities managed to evacuate about two hundred thousand local residents. Twenty cities were flooded, the damage is estimated at billions of dollars.
Flood of the Ayeyarwaddy River in Myanmar
In May 2008, the strongest tropical cyclone "Nargis" hit the country, which led to the spill of a large water artery - the Irrawaddy speech. Streams of water washed away entire cities. Ninety thousand people were killed as a result of the disaster, fifty-six thousand were missing, and experts estimated the damage at ten billion US dollars.
Ominous floodin Pakistan in the summer of 2010
One of the worst floods in the world happened in 2010 in Pakistan. The victims of the raging elements were 2 thousand people, and the damage amounted to 10 billion dollars. The flood caused a mass exodus of spiders. They fled from the water on the trees, wrapping the crowns with a thick layer of cobwebs. Therefore, the coastal landscapes have taken on a truly sinister look.
Flood in the Czech Republic in 2002
The next major flood in the world in 2002 hit Europe. The Czech Republic suffered the most. The Vltava River rose seven meters, flooded houses and the subway, almost washed away the Charles Bridge - one of the main attractions. The zoo was badly damaged by the flood. More than 100 animals died as a result. Damage amounted to $4 billion.
2009 disaster in the Philippines
More than 370,000 people were forced to leave their homes due to the threat caused by flooding. More than 600 thousand local residents suffered from the consequences of the rampant disaster, about 300 people died. A state of emergency was declared in the capital and other cities, the work of one of the airports was suspended, flights were canceled or rescheduled, and many kilometers of traffic jams literally paralyzed the city.
Nearby countries were also affected by tropical typhoon Ketsana, which passed a few days after the flood. On Tuesday, the rains hit the coast of Vietnam and took the lives of 23 people. More than 340mm of rain fell in the Philippines in six hours. These are the mostheavy rains in the country since the middle of the last century.
The island nation suffers from about twenty typhoons and tropical storms every year, but this disaster has become one of the world's major floods in the 21st century. The government even appealed to the international community for help in eliminating the consequences of the rampant disaster.
The worst floods in Russia
In the regions of the Russian Federation from time to time there are heavy showers, which lead to a rise in the water level in the rivers and create the possibility of flooding nearby settlements. So, the biggest floods in the world happened on the territory of Russia. In 2017, for example, in Stavropol, more than 40,000 people were evacuated due to the threat of overfilling the Otkaznensky reservoir. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 5,000 people died from the elements, about a thousand of them were children.
Another major flood in the world (the Red Cross sent funds for help, humanitarian aid came from Azerbaijan and Belarus) happened in Krymsk on July 6-7, 2012. In the entire history of the region, this natural disaster was the most devastating. The main blow fell on Krymsk, but Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, the villages of Neberdzhaevskaya, Nizhnebakanskaya, Divnomorskoye, Kabardinka were badly damaged.
53 thousand people were recognized as victims, almost 30 thousand of them lost their property, one hundred and fifty-six people died. More than seven thousand private houses and 185 apartment buildings, nine he althcare facilities, fifteen boiler houses, three cultural facilities,eighteen educational institutions, gas, water and energy supply systems, railway and road traffic were disrupted.
In May 2001, Lensk was seriously damaged by the raging elements. The city was almost completely washed away by water: in the very first days of the flood, 98% of the territory of the settlement was under water. Eight local residents were killed, and more than five thousand houses were flooded. Lensk has already become a victim of the elements before. In 1998, for example, due to ice jams on the Lena, a severe flood began. The water in the river has risen by eleven meters - this is a critical level. Almost 100 thousand people were affected, fifteen were victims of the flood.
In the summer of 2002, nine southern regions of the Russian Federation suffered from severe flooding. 377 settlements were under water. The most difficult situation has developed in Mineralnye Vody, where the water level in the river has risen five to six meters above the critical level. The damage from the impact of the elements amounted to 16 billion rubles, 300 thousand people suffered, 114 local residents became victims.
