FLOOD CONTROL IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Methods of control

In many countries , rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed. Defences such as levees, bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to

prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defences fail, emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are

used. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe and the Americas with coastal defences, such as sea walls, beach nourishment, and

barrier islands.

A dike is another method of flood protection. A dike lowers the risk of having floods compared to other methods. It can help prevent damage;

however it is better to combine dikes with other flood control methods to reduce the risk of a collapsed dike.

Tide gates are used in conjunction with dikes and culverts. They can be placed at the mouth of streams or small rivers, where an estuary

begins or where tributary streams, or drainage ditches connect to sloughs. Tide gates close during incoming tides to prevent tidal waters

from moving upland, and open during outgoing tides to allow waters to drain out via the culvert and into the estuary side of the dike. The

opening and closing of the gates is driven by a difference in water level on either side of the gate.

A weir, also known as a lowhead dam, is most often used to create millponds, but on the Humber River in Toronto, a weir was built

near Raymore Drive to prevent a recurrence of the flooding caused by Hurricane Hazel in 1954, which destroyed nearly two fifths of the

street. Venice has a similar arrangement, although it is already unable to cope with very high tides. The defenses of both London and Venice

will be rendered inadequate if sea levels continue to rise.

The largest and most elaborate flood defenses can be found in the Netherlands, where they are referred to as Delta Works with

the Oosterschelde dam as its crowning achievement. These works were built in response to the North Sea flood of 1953, in the southwestern

part of the Netherlands. The Dutch had already built one of the world's largest dams in the north of the country: the Afsluitdijk (closing

occurred in 1932).

Flood blocking the road in Jerusalem

Currently the Saint Petersburg Flood Prevention Facility Complex is to be finished by 2008, in Russia, to protect Saint Petersburg from storm

surges. It also has a main traffic function, as it completes a ring roadaround Saint Petersburg. Eleven dams extend for 25.4 kilometres and

stand eight metres above water level.

Americas

Another elaborate system of floodway defenses can be found in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The Red River flows northward from

the United States, passing through the city of Winnipeg (where it meets the Assiniboine River) and into Lake Winnipeg. As is the case with all

north-flowing rivers in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, snowmelt in southern sections may cause river levels to rise before

northern sections have had a chance to completely thaw. This can lead to devastating flooding, as occurred in Winnipeg during the spring of

1950. To protect the city from future floods, the Manitoba government undertook the construction of a massive system of diversions, dikes,

and floodways (including the Red River Floodway and the Portage Diversion). The system kept Winnipeg safe during the 1997 flood which

devastated many communities upriver from Winnipeg, including Grand Forks, North Dakota and Ste. Agathe, Manitoba.

In the U.S., the New Orleans Metropolitan Area, 35% of which sits below sea level, is protected by hundreds of miles of levees and flood

gates. This system failed catastrophically, with numerous breaks, during Hurricane Katrina in the city proper and in eastern sections of the

Metro Area, resulting in the inundation of approximately 50% of the Metropolitan area, ranging from a few inches to twenty feet in coastal

communities.

In an act of successful flood prevention, the Federal Government of the United States offered to buy out flood-prone properties in the United

States in order to prevent repeated disasters after the 1993 flood across the Midwest. Several communities accepted and the government, in

partnership with the state, bought 25,000 properties which they converted into wetlands. These wetlands act as a sponge in storms and in

1995, when the floods returned, the government did not have to expend resources in those areas.

Asia

In China, flood diversion areas are rural areas that are deliberately flooded in emergencies in order to protect cities.

The consequences of deforestation and changing land use on the risk and severity are prone to discussion. In assessing the impacts of

Himalayan deforestation on the Ganges-Brahmaputra Lowlands, it was found that forests would not have prevented or significantly reduced

flooding in the case of an extreme weather event. However, more general or overview studies agree on the negative impacts deforestation

has on flood safety - and the positive effects of wise land use and reforestation.

Flood clean-up safety

Clean-up activities following floods often pose hazards to workers and volunteers involved in the effort. Potential dangers include electrical

hazards, carbon monoxide exposure, musculoskeletal hazards, heat or cold stress, motor vehicle-related dangers, fire, drowning, and

exposure to hazardous materials. Because flooded disaster sites are unstable, clean-up workers might encounter sharp jagged debris,

biological hazards in the flood water, exposed electrical lines, blood or other body fluids, and animal and human remains. In planning for and

reacting to flood disasters, managers provide workers with hard hats, goggles, heavy work gloves, life jackets, and watertight boots with steel

toes and insoles.

Future

Europe is at the forefront of the flood control technology. With many countries around Europe at or below the sea level, the problems of

floods and rising sea levels are ever increasing. Countries like the Netherlands with projects such as the Zuiderzee works and the Delta

works could prove to be important models for other countries around the world to follow. These sorts of humongous projects could be key in

combating the increasing effects of global climate change such as: rising sea levels, an increase in the frequency and severity of some

natural disasters, and even increased durations of dry or rainy seasons.

The tremendous amount of damage that Katrina did to New Orleans could have been mostly prevented if New Orleans had such an intricate

flood control system as the Netherlands. The result of Katrina was that the state of Louisiana sent politicians to the Netherlands to take a tour

of the complex and highly developed flood control system in place in the Netherlands. Many countries around the world are also at or below

sea level and the worst part about that is the fact that a significant amount of the global population lives on or near to the coastal shores.

Even though many of these projects around the world are designed to fight floods like a 100 or even 10,000 year flood; these projects can

still prove to be key instruments in the fight against global climate change. The Netherlands is the world leader in flood control and has been

battling the sea for centuries and new ways to deal with water are constantly being developed and tested. Projects such as the underground

storage of water, storing water in reservoirs in large parking garages, and even something as simple as turning a playground during normal

conditions into a small lake during heavy rainfall weather all show how the Netherlands is actively trying to combat the increasing dangers of

rising sea levels. In Rotterdam there is even a project to construct a floating housing development of 120 acres (0.49 km2), which of course

will be unaffected by rising sea levels. These flood control systems do not always have to be solely to prevent floods but can also be used to

combat droughts. China has recently gone to the Netherlands and requested their help in combating the large scale drought that is occurring

around China. The Dutch are going to help China develop a drought warning system as well as new water management programs and

contribute to flood defense research. Flood control will become an ever increasing issue in world politics and as more and more countries

start feeling the effects of a global increase in the sea level then it will be time for action and the Netherlands will certainly be at the forefront

of this action and furthermore used as an example for many countries when it is time for them to start dealing with issues of the sea.

Eroding Economic Growth

Thailand’s most severe floods in five decades have spread across half the country, killing at least 68 people and damaging

3 percent of agricultural land in the world’s biggest rice-exporting nation.

The deluge may cause as much as 20.2 billion baht ($674 million) of damage and pare economic growth in Southeast Asia’s

second-biggest economy by 0.2 percentage point this year, the Finance Ministry said.

About 4 million rai (1.6 million acres) of agricultural land has been affected, according to the Office of Agricultural

Economics, equivalent to 3 percent of available farmland. The main rice crop, which accounts for about 75 percent of annual

output, may shrink 4.3 percent this year, the state agency said.
“Production of rice and cassava will likely fall,” Apichart Jongskul, the office’s secretary-general, said by phone today. “Sugar

cane and corn will have only minor damage.”

Rice Fields Damaged

About 4.8 percent of Thailand’s rice-growing area, or 2.8 million rai, has been affected by the floods, Apichart said. About

600,000 rai of land was completely devastated, and the rest partially damaged, he said. Thailand’s main rice crop is planted

over about 58 million rai of the nation’s 130 million rai of total farmland, he said.

Production from the main harvest of unmilled grain, which begins in late October, may fall to about 22 million metric tons,

from an earlier estimate of 23 million tons, Apichart said.

About 2.5 percent of Thailand’s sugar cane has been partially destroyed, from a total planting area of 6.56 million rai,

Prasert Tapaneeyangkul, secretary-general of the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board, said by phone on Oct. 27.

The heavy flooding that hit several regions in Bangkok since Oct 10 would bring down the gross domestic
growth in the fourth quarter of the year to 2-2.5 per cent, from the previous prediction of 3-4 per cent. The
floods had caused concern about income and job opportunities, while the strong baht also
made people worry about their future income. The decline in consumer confidence had led to a decrease
in demand for new cars, new homes and in tourism spending. If the Thai government fails to rapidly heal
the problems of flood affected people consumer spending will fall and that would hurt economic growth in
the fourth quarter.

Mozambique relies heavily on international support, with 51 per cent of its income coming from foreign donors. It needs
US$47 million to deal with flooding in 2008 - of which only US$8 million was available at the beginning of the yearIts
budget for dealing with floods is about one billion dollars a year and is expected to rise to about US$1.5 billion by 2010.