Why is it flooding so bad...columbus indiana?

Question

I am in columbus indiana and we had the flood of the century completely insane but its not just us, its everywhere, dams breaks, levees giving in...what is going on? just a lot of rain or what!?

Answer 1

Yes, this river flooding is caused by the huge amount of rain water that fell upstream a few days ago and then naturally drained into the nearby streams and rivers.  Rivers and streams are there as a natural way to transport water away from the dry land and deposit them into larger bodies of water like lakes and oceans.  In your case, all that record amount of rain water that fell upstream  a few days ago is now draining towards the Gulf of Mexico.  However, it takes time for this huge bulge of water to travel down the natural streams and river drainage sytems before it can empty out into the Gulf of Mexico.  So as this bulge of record amount water slowly moves downstream, it will threaten each community it passes since this record size bulge of water is larger than what the Dams and levees where designed to safely handle.  Until this bulge passes your community, the danger of flooding will continue to exist.

It is like the gutter system you find in any neighborhood city blook.  When rain falls, the gutters will flow.  If somebody dumps a truckload of water suddenly into the gutter system, the water will flood each property as it passes as it travels down the gutter system.  Your city is in the flood path of the rain water just as your home would if your house was on that city blook.  And just like your flooding river situation, it takes time for that flooding water in the gutter to flow down the block.  So now communities down stream are racing to protect their communities and hope that the protection will hold up as the bulge of flooding water is forecast to past by their community.

And of course, any additional rainfall will just add to the problem.

Answer 2

I live in Iowa City, and right now it is flooding.  It rained every day here for what seemed like forever. And I am not talking about a little rain, I mean major storms.  So now we are all under water..and hating life

Answer 3

I heard there is a lot of rain!

Answer 4

Yes, its the rain and also its the polar ice caps, in Anartica. Its flooding alot where im at, our Gov. had to evacuate some of the people around that flooding.