Floods and Inundations are caused by excessive rains, giving rise to an overflow of the rivers; by the bursting of the banks of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs; by the sudden melting of ice and snow; and by irruptions of the sea, produced by high tides, wind-storms driving the sea-water inland, earthquakes, volcanic outbreaks, and the bursting of sea banks. The felling of forest trees throughout extensive tracts of mountainous country also tends to make the rivers which have their origin there swell rapidly after a heavy rainfall; good and complete drainage of land has the same tendency. For the Noahian flood, see DELUGE. The subjoined list embraces some of the most disastrous floods and inundations of which we have record.
684 A.D. Japan; 750 sq. m. of Isle of Shikoku covered by sea.
963. Persian Gulf; many cities destroyed, and new islands formed by irruption of sea.
1014. Many English seaports destroyed by sea.
1093 or 1100. East of Kent inundated; Goodwin Sands formed.
1100 or 1108. Flanders inundated.
1161 or 1165. Sicily; irruption of sea; thousands drowned.
1170. Holland and Friesland; great flood.
1173. Holland; Zuyder Zee much enlarged.
1219. Nordland, Norway; lake burst; 36,000 people perished.
1223. Friesland; invasion of sea; 100,000 people drowned.
1277. Friesland; the Dollart formed.
1286-87. Holland on both sides of Zuyder Zee inundated in consequence of a storm.
1396. Holland; islands of Texel, Vlieland, and Wieringen separated from mainland, and Marsdiep, the channel between Texel and North Holland, formed.
1421 or 1446. Holland; 72 villages inundated, of which 20 permanently; about 100,000 persons drowned, Biebosch formed east of Dordrecht, and this town separated from mainland.
1521. Holland; 100,000 lives lost by an inundation.
1570. Holland; storm drove in the sea, destroying numerous villages and 20,000 people in Friesland.
1617. Catalonia, Spain; 15,000 perished in floods.
1629. Mexico (city) inundated.
1642. China, at Kaifong; 300,000 drowned.
1646. Holland and Friesland inundated; loss of life, 110,000.
1726. Floods and inundations all over Europe.
1745. Peru; Callao destroyed by irruption of sea caused by earthquakes.
1767. England; irruption of sea on east coast.
1782. Formosa; west side of island submerged, and Taiwan destroyed.
1787-88. India, in North-western Provinces and Punjab; 15,000 lives lost by floods.
1791. Cuba; floods from excessive rain; 3000 drowned.
1811. Hungary; 24 villages swept away by overflow of Danube.
1813. Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Prussian Silesia; floods caused by raius; 4000 perished in Poland, 6000 in Silesia.
1824. St Petersburg and Cronstadt; 10,000 lives lost from overflow of Neva.
1825. Denmark; sea broke through from North Sea to Limfjord, making northern Jutland an island; one-third of Friesland submerged by rising of sea and rivers.
1840. France; overflow of Saône and Rhône swept away many villages and inundated Lyons, Avignon, Nîmes, Marseilles, &c.
1851. Northern China; Yellow River burst its banks, and made a new outlet into Gulf of Pechili.
1852. Floods throughout Europe from Belgium to Switzerland.
1856. South of France; floods did damage to extent of £5,600,000.
1868. Peru; Arica and Iquique nearly destroyed by earthquake waves.
1874. United States; Mill River valley (Massachusetts) inundated by bursting of a dam; 144 drowned. Also floods in western Pennsylvania; 220 drowned.
1875. Disastrous floods throughout central Europe, in United States, Burnah, India, and West Indies.
1876. China; floods in northern provinces; in Bengal 200,000 persons perished from inundation of a tidal wave.
1883. Java and Sumatra; parts submerged by volcanic wave (see KRAKATOA).
1887. China; Hoang-ho flooded in Ho-nan; millions of lives lost.
1889. Johnstown, U.S.; reservoir burst; 2209 lives lost.
1891. Consuegra, Spain; 1200 lives lost.
1893. Queensland; great destruction of property.
There are certain parts of the world which are periodically submerged, such as extensive tracts in the North Valley of Siam, Cochin-China, Annam, &c. See, for a detailed list of floods and inundations, C. Walford, in Journal of Statistical Society, 1878, pp. 451-467.