Floods

There are floods throughout the world, many of them devastating and deadly. This text explores their occurrence, explaining storms and cloudbursts, thunder and lightning, and the monsoons. There are also sidebars containing concepts from atmospheric science, including glacioisostasy.

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July 2002, floods in eastern and central Texas were so severe that many counties were declared disaster areas and eight people lost their lives. In August 2002, in central and eastern Europe, dozens of deaths and untold irreplaceable cultural and historic sites were destroyed by flooding. In Asia, during the summer of 2002, at least 1,800 people died. Though often tragic, there are floods throughout the world every year, many of them devastating and deadly. In Floods, Revised Edition, author Michael Allaby has substantially altered, expanded, and in some places rewritten the original text to reflect recent findings and new information on this form of severe weather. Three new chapters explain storms and cloudbursts, thunder and lightning, and the monsoons in greater detail. Many new and revised sidebars display explanations or interesting pieces of information about floods and flooding, without interrupting the main flow of the text. These explain concepts from atmospheric science, such as partial pressure and vapor pressure; charge separation in storm clouds; and glacioisostasy, as well as explaining why it rains more on mountainsides than it does in the valleys. New further reading lists at the end of each section and at the conclusion of the book stimulate further research. Students will find this book comprehensive and useful as it explains the phenomenon in clear and accessible language.