Flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land. The European Union (EU) Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries, or may be due to accumulation of rainwater on saturated ground in an areal flood.

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Famous quotes containing the word flood:

    The mighty river flowing dark and deep,
    With ebb and flood from the remote sea-tides
    Vague-sounding through the City’s sleepless sleep,
    Is named the River of the Suicides;
    James Thomson (1834–1882)

    There are flood and drouth
    Over the eyes and in the mouth,
    Dead water and dead sand
    Contending for the upper hand.
    The parched eviscerate soil
    Gapes at the vanity of toil,
    Laughs without mirth.
    This is the death of the earth.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)

    Men hold themselves cheap and vile; and yet a man is a fagot of thunderbolts. All the elements pour through his system: he is the flood of the flood, and fire of the fire; he feels the antipodes and the pole, as drops of his blood: they are the extension of his personality.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)