- Hurricanes and tropical storms are one of the major causes of floods. Clouds take in loads of moisture over warm bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico. The storms make their way toward land, where they unload the moisture as rain. Rivers and streams are not equipped to handle all the excess water that these types of storms pour out. Tropical storms commonly drop up to 10 inches of rain when making landfall.
- Several things can cause tsunamis, which in turn can cause severe coastal flooding. Tsunamis can be caused by things such as volcanoes, earthquakes or underwater explosions. These powerful waves move very fast and have been clocked at more than 500 miles per hour. Islands can't stop tsunamis from continuing on their projected course. When the waves of water reach the shore, real damage and loss of life often occurs. This is because the waves are not easily detected and can be 75 feet in height when they reach the land.
- In the early 1900s, a major earthquake occurred and caused fires to burn the city of San Francisco for 72 hours. As the ground moves during an earthquake, power and gas lines can be damaged which leads to fires. Earthquakes can cause fires by knocking over stoves that are burning wood or coal as fuel. The amount of time that fires burn can also be prolonged due to earthquakes. This is because earthquakes can break water lines which are needed to get water from fire hydrants.
- Storms often produce lightning, which is capable of causing fires. A single day of storms is able to produce several wildfires and can lead to hundreds of acres being burned. The fires caused by lightning is not always immediate. A lightning strike can hit the ground and cause it to smolder until the surface vegetation becomes dry enough. Once this has occurred, a flame will be created and a forest fire born. If smoke is coming from the vegetation in a forest, this is a good indication that a fire will likely follow.
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