A flood is a water overrunning on cultivated and populated lands; it happens when due to prolonged and strong rains, usually dry area is flooded by water overflowing from the banks or the embankments of a river. In Italy, unlike the beneficent Nilo’s floods leaving the fertilizing slime on the ground, they cause very serious damages.

These damages are caused by insufficient banks but also by the river-bed conditions, with a big quantity of silts deriving from the natural erosion, human actions or bulky rubbisk.

Downhill floods bring on an acceleration of the erosion of the river and then a warp deposition, more and more modifying the river flow.

Floods don’t only cause serious environmental damages (such as trees uprooting) but also damages concerning the society and the economic development.

As far as the society is concerned, the floods destroy and inundate houses and public buildings, forcing people to live in caravans or to rent rooms in hotels and boarding-houses, living in awkward and unpleasant conditions (due to the fact of losing their own houses).

Further more the use of public services such as the means of transport is hampered so that economic and commercial activities go slower.

Farmers face a lot of difficulties because before going on with their agricultural activity, they are obliged to reclaim fields.

written by Massetti Valentina