Epic Floods
In 2019 Americares emergency teams responded to major flooding disasters caused by major storms in Africa and the central plains of the U.S. Cyclone Idai followed by Cyclone Kenneth devastated Mozambique and then carried more death and destruction to Zimbabwe and Malawi, putting nearly 1,900 square miles underwater. Record rainfall and continued violent storms, spawning dozens of tornadoes in the U.S. Midwest brought historic flooding to Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and other surrounding states, covering entire communities and caused massive damage to farms in the region. And in 2021, floods devastated some of the most vulnerable areas in the South. Lake Charles, LA, for example, that was so heavily damaged by Hurricane Laura in 2020, suffered major flooding from heavy rainfall in the region. And the 2022 floods in Pakistan have covered more than one-third of the country, creating an unimaginable humanitarian crisis.
Extreme weather does not spare even the most developed and wealthy regions as evidenced by the deadly and unprecedented floods in Western Europe, particularly in Germany where nearly 200 people died and many more went missing. In China, in what experts described as the heaviest rains in 1,000 years, deadly floods affected more that 1.2 million people. In Tennessee, dozens died as historic rainfall inundated communities with flash floods that swept houses and lives away. In India, the state of Maharashtra was hit by the heaviest July rainfall in four decades. And the remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021 unleashed historic rainfall levels in the Northeast U.S. where the speed and severity of the flooding killed dozens of people. The effects of flooding are often exacerbated by human activity (i.e. building in flood zones, inadequate infrastructure, loss of wetlands and increasingly climate change). Where is the greatest flood risk in the U.S.? Click here to see a map of areas at risk.
An aerial view of a flooded Salinas, Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona. September 19, 2022. (Photo: Alejandro Granadillo)