ABSTRACT
Humankind’s need and desire to control natural forces to preserve life and improve their lifestyles has a long history. One of the most dangerous and frequent challenges to human settlements comes from the Ÿow of water into areas that are not designed for such inundations-in other words, Ÿooding. Notable examples of recent Ÿoods include the 2004 Tsunami Ÿooding in Asia, the 2005 Ÿooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, the Summer 2007 Ÿooding across the United Kingdom (UK), and the 2010 Pakistan Ÿood disaster affecting an estimated 20 million people. Summaries of disaster statistics consistently note that Ÿoods are the most frequently occurring natural disaster and that they affect more people than any other single disaster type (Vos et al., 2010; Scheuren et al., 2008). Over the thirty years leading to 2006, Ÿoods killed more than 200,000 people directly (Guha-Sapir, 2006) and may have indirectly contributed to millions of illness-related deaths. In 2009, 180 hydrological disasters affected 57.3 million victims worldwide; and despite humankind’s best efforts, 3,500 fatalities were attributed to Ÿooding (Vos et al., 2010).
