For as far back as we can go in the history of man, we find records or tales, or legends, about great floods. The reason for this is that there have always been floods. In fact, primitive man deliberately settled in the valleys that were in the paths of floods because they were so fertile.

What is a flood? It’s a condition that exists when a river overflows its banks and the water spreads out elsewhere What causes a flood? the accumulation of a great deal of water in a river that comes from heavy rains, or from other streams or reservoirs that feed into the river. A river usually drains a vast area, or ‘watershed,’ and it is the heavy flow of water from anywhere in this watershed that makes a river rise and flood over its banks.

Some floods are very helpful. The Nile, ever since man’s first written history, has been bringing a life-giving flood every year to farmlands, by carrying down soils from the highlands. On the other hand, the Yellow River in China has brought death and destruction periodically. In 1935, it made 4,000,000 people homeless by flooding over!

Can floods be prevented? This is probably impossible to accomplish, since heavy rains will come whether man wants them or not. But many efforts are being made to control floods, and this will prow ably be done in time.

There are three ways to control floods. One is to have levees or dikes to protect farm lowlands and other areas where the river waters build up. A second way is to have emergency channels, such as spillways or floodways, to help carry away the excess water. A third way is to develop huge reservoirs to hold back flood waters and feed them more gradually to the larger streams.