26
votes
Accepted
With all the rain Seattle gets, why is widespread flooding relatively rare?
Regarding climate, it does not rain in Seattle as much as people think; Seattle is in the snow shadow of the Olympic Mountains. It doesn't rain much in summer at all. Seattle gets rather dry in July ...
- 23.1k
19
votes
With all the rain Seattle gets, why is widespread flooding relatively rare?
Catastrophic flash flooding is usually a sign of poor city/road planning in flat areas or due to torrential downfall of rain. The reality is that all the terrain in Washington allows water to drain, ...
- 13.5k
14
votes
Could a massive flood have formed the Grand Canyon?
tl;dr: no.
Long answer:
First of all, like mentioned by others in the comments, you would need some physical mechanism to take a whole lot of water, evaporate it, and drop it at once at a place ...
- 23.1k
12
votes
Is this scientific explanation of The Bible flood accurate?
Fishing through the links mentioned over at Christianity SE, I netted this scientific paper about freshwater and marine fish: Why are there so few fish in the sea?. Apparently the bulk (96%) of marine ...
- 1,207
8
votes
Accepted
Could a massive flood have formed the Grand Canyon?
In addition to all of the above there are meanders inn the Grand Canyon which are hydraulic outcomes of 'minimum energy flow configurations'. This constrains the discharge rates that are possible - to ...
- 14.2k
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a quick way to roughly estimate how quickly a flood will move downstream?
My first thought would be to use Manning equation as an approximation. It does not take into account the effect of a dam burst providing excess water and immediate flooding, although for larger scales ...
- 751
7
votes
What is the difference between a flood and a mudslide?
A flood occurs when land that is normally dry is covered by water. The source of the flood water is generally from bodies of water, such as: rivers, lakes, dams and even the ocean.
Rivers can flood, ...
- 24.6k
7
votes
With all the rain Seattle gets, why is widespread flooding relatively rare?
We do get flooding in the Puget Sound lowlands, but it actually happens most often when a mid-winter warm front brings a moderate amount of rain to higher elevations, causing sudden, extensive ...
- 71
7
votes
Is it possible for a local flood to reach the heights of a mountain, say 7000 ft, and wash away a ship over 350 miles?
No it isn't possible. 7000 feet is 2133 metres. That water level would cover almost all the land mass of the globe, except for the highest mountains, like the Himalayas, the Andes etc. It would need ...
- 2,010
6
votes
Accepted
Why was the flooding in Derna, Libya so catastrophic?
I hesitate to write this answer as I am neither a metereologist, nor a hydrologist, nor a civil engineer with expertise in dams.
From what I gather from news reports and available data, the proximate ...
- 558
5
votes
With all the rain Seattle gets, why is widespread flooding relatively rare?
To add some concrete data to some of the great answers already here:
Seattle is actually not particularly rainy, especially compared to other parts of WA, but also compared to other cities in the US. ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
How was Venice flooded?
If the winds subsided and the flooding was caused purely by tidal effects, which are astronomical events, shouldn't it have been predictable months, if not years in advance?
The tides are only ...
- 23.1k
5
votes
How was Venice flooded?
Venice can't really be flooded by rivers, since there are none worth mentioning throughout the city.
High tides are predictable, yes.
Take a look at how Venice is situated. The historic city is ...
- 726
4
votes
Is it certain that hundred year floods have finite variance?
I'm sure a statistics guru over on cross-validated could answer this better for you, but here's some general info on estimating flood frequency fyi.
The 100 year flood has a 1% probability of ...
- 41
4
votes
Is this scientific explanation of The Bible flood accurate?
The geological, hydrological, meteorological, palaeontological, evolutionary and hydrodynamic absurdities of the literal reading of Noah's Flood could fill at least one lengthy book, in fact many ...
- 14.2k
4
votes
What is the difference between waterlogging and flooding?
Waterlogging is a situation were soil is either fully or near saturated most of the time, the air phase is restricted and aerobic conditions prevail. Waterlogged soil may appear dry on the surface. ...
- 24.6k
4
votes
With all the rain Seattle gets, why is widespread flooding relatively rare?
Because soil drainage would be higher and the ground would take long to saturate Floods don't always happen in Rainy weather all the time because first the soil needs to be saturated (the point where ...
- 574
3
votes
How can flood inundation vary at the same river stage?
Hydrology major here, for whatever that's worth :) Some possibilities from my readings/internships:
First I'd check the gage you're using for stage--if it's moved in the last 8 years, the stage may ...
- 91
3
votes
Is there a relationship between pressure drop and sea level rise?
Is there really a relationship between pressure drop and sea level rise?
The author of the card was writing about storms at sea. By way of analogy, think of what happens when a person with a ...
- 23.1k
3
votes
How to simulate rainfall for a 1 in 100 year storm event?
Sounds a bit unfeasible to me to really and truly properly simulate... a bit like asking the timeline of how a hypothetical 100 story building would be built.
There's certainly some patterns to how ...
- 8,713
3
votes
What is the potential impact of hurricane intensification and sea level rise on coastal flooding?
As you noted, the (predictions about) impacts of global climate change are region specific. The general reasoning behind predictions for many regions are similar however, as are some noteworthy bottom ...
- 1,178
3
votes
What was the storm surge height from Hurricane Harvey?
For a general view of the surge in the region, the maps in u-surge give a pretty good idea of numbers and more affected regions.
The USGS provides a comprehensive view of High Water Marks (HWM) in ...
- 15.4k
2
votes
Accepted
What was the storm surge height from Hurricane Harvey?
My house elevation is 9.1 feet above sea level, according to all "expert" measurements. That includes the city, county, state, Feds, and all insurers. It seems about right to me. But then again, I ...
- 44
2
votes
Soil moisture conditions and air temperatures - literature needed
If you're after "basic" academic work, I suggest the following 2003 textbook from the Utah State University entitled, "Rainfall Runoff Processes", chapter 2:
Runoff Generation Mechanisms
It looks ...
- 2,783
2
votes
Accepted
How to curb losses during annual heavy rainfalls
Flood control measures largely depend on:
The amount of money available to create flood control measures
The availability of raw materials that could be used to create such
measures
The locality of ...
- 24.6k
1
vote
Time of concentration - Difference between large and small basins
Unless you're needing specific methods for application purposes, the justification you're providing is clear and wouldn't require a citation. Maybe this is a homework question?
Some rambling ...
- 41
1
vote
Time of concentration - Difference between large and small basins
This is a difficult question since time of concentration ($t_c$) can in theory, vary substantially, for two basins of equal size.
Off the top of my head, I can imagine several other variables that ...
- 432
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