What is flash flood?
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions.
It may be caused by
Heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane.
Tropical storm
By meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields.
Flash floods may also occur after the collapse of a natural ice or debris dam, or a human structure such as a man-made dam, as occurred before the Johnstown Flood of 1889.
Flash floods are distinguished from regular floods by having a timescale of fewer than six hours between rainfall and the onset of flooding.
Flash floods can also deposit large quantities of sediments on floodplains and can be destructive of vegetation cover not adapted to frequent flood conditions.
Flash Flood in Libya
At least 2,300 people were killed and thousands were reported missing in Libya after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city.
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