Flood Control Channel

Flood control refers to all methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flood relief refers to methods used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water levels.

Causes of floods:-

Floods are caused by many factors (or a combination of any of these): heavy rainfall, highly accelerated snowmelt, severe winds over water, unusual high tides, tsunamis, or failure of dams, levees, retention ponds, or other structures that retained the water. Flooding can be exacerbated by increased amounts of impervious surface or by other natural hazards such as wildfires, which reduce the supply of vegetation that can absorb rainfall.

Periodic floods occur on many rivers, forming a surrounding region known as the flood plain.

During times of rain, some of the water is retained in ponds or soil, some is absorbed by grass and vegetation, some evaporates, and the rest travels over the land as surface runoff. Floods occur when ponds, lakes, riverbeds, soil, and vegetation cannot absorb all the water. Water then runs off the land in quantities that cannot be carried within stream channels or retained in natural ponds, lakes, and man-made reservoirs. About 30 percent of all precipitation becomes runoff and that amount might be increased by water from melting snow. River flooding is often caused by heavy rain, sometimes increased by melting snow. A flood that rises rapidly, with little or no warning, is called a flash flood. Flash floods usually result from intense rainfall over a relatively small area, or if the area was already saturated from previous precipitation.

Severe winds over water:-

Even when rainfall is relatively light, the shorelines of lakes and bays can be flooded by severe winds—such as during hurricanes—that blow water into the shore areas.

Unusual high tides:-

Coastal areas are sometimes flooded by unusually high tides, such as spring tides, especially when compounded by high winds and storm surges.

Flood control Channel :-

Flood control channels are a series of large and empty (except when a flood is actually present) open-air channels that extend a ways below the street levels of some larger cities, so that if and when a flood occurs, the flood will run into the channels, and proceed to be drained to the proper body of water. Flood control channels are sometimes built on the former courses of waterways as a way to reduce flooding. They are not to be confused with watercourses which are simply confined between levees. These structures may be made entirely of concrete, with concrete sides and an exposed bottom, with riprap sides and an exposed bottom, or completely unlined. They often contain grade control sills or weirs to prevent erosion and maintain a level streambed. By definition, flood control channels range from the size of a street gutter to a few hundred or even a few thousand feet wide in some rare cases. Flood control channels are found in most heavily developed areas in the world.