The Impact of Flooding to Human Safety and the Ecosystem

The Impact of Flooding to Human Safety and the Ecosystem
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1 Why do climate fluctuations cause extreme rainstorms and floods?
Scientifically, rainstorms and flash floods are secondary to the extreme changes in precipitation, which are intensified by climate changes. Global warming led to an increase in the water precipitation for about six to seven percent annually per one degree rise in temperature (Tabari, 2020). Drastic climate changes prolonged the duration of drought, leading to an enormous amount of evaporation and increased surface moisture. The level of water vapor in the atmosphere has the most significant influence on the formation of storms, hurricanes, and tropical cyclones. The consequence of these events is increased flooding (Trenberth, 2006). According to Dowdall (2021), climate change has no direct relationship with flooding. However, the author supported that extreme temperature accelerates the melting of the snowcaps, resulting in the rise in sea levels. Also, the author iterated that this also affects the precipitation levels, impacting the flood trends.
2 How do floods affect water quality? How do they impact the ecosystem?
Floods reduce the quality of water due to the increase in the sediments and nutrients in it. Usually, these are beneficial for a healthy water system, but an excessive amount significantly diminishes the downstream quality of water. It also increases the number of heavy metals and chemical irritants, which pose a danger to humans, whether the water will be used for drinking or not (Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist, 2018). Sun et al. (2016) also added that areas prone to flooding have higher bacterial colonies, specifically coliforms.
Floods disrupt the ecosystem by displacing many species from their natural habitats, which decreases the dynamics in that specific environment. These also increase the number of unfavorable species, resulting in scarcity of food resources and the death of some species (Talbot et al., 2018).
3 What threat does the flood pose to human survival?
Dowdall (2021) explained that floods threaten human safety because these augment the damages to the weakened facilities, which may be prone to collapse. Also, post-flooding increases unwanted chemicals, such as carbon monoxide from refrigerators and generators, toxic to the human body. Additionally, the imp...