Floods have been an integral part of the human experience ever since the start of the agricultural revolution when people built the first permanent settlements on the great riverbanks of Asia and Africa. Seasonal floods deliver valuable topsoil and nutrients to farmland and bring life to otherwise infertile regions of the world such as the Nile River Valley. Flash floods and large 100-year floods, on the other hand, are responsible for more deaths than tornadoes or hurricanes. In the United States alone over the past 60 years, an average of 127 people have lost their lives due to floods. Floodwaters are also responsible for billions of dollars in property damage annually. The NASA satellite images in this section show the time, place, and extent of selected large floods around the world. Visit the Dartmouth Flood Observatory for more details on the art and science of flood monitoring. Check out our related links for Floods.

Latest Floods Events

	Floods: Flooding along the Gulf Coast Hurricane Ike pushed water far inland over a wide swath of the Gulf Coast when the storm came ashore on September 13, 2008. 1 Image, Posted: September 18, 2008
	Floods: The Brahmaputra River floods Northeast India Monsoon rains pushed the Brahmaputra River to dangerous levels in early September 2008. 1 Image, Posted: September 08, 2008
	Floods: Monsoon Floods in Northeast India Monsoon rains regularly swell rivers in northern India, but in 2008, the Kosi, a tributary of the Ganges and a major river in its own right, did something different. It burst through its banks to flow into a channel it had abandoned more than 200 years ago. 2 Images, Updated: September 02, 2008
	Floods: Tropical Storm Fay Floods Florida Tropical Storm Fay dumped heavy rain over Florida between August 19 and August 24, 2008, triggering floods throughout the state. 1 Image, Posted: August 26, 2008
	Floods: Monsoon Rains Flood Pakistan Unusually intense monsoon rains pounded Pakistan in late July and early August 2008, causing deadly floods. 1 Image, Posted: August 08, 2008
	Floods: Floods in Eastern Europe Heavy rain falling in the Carpathian Mountains pushed rivers in Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova over their banks on July 27-28, 2008. 2 Images, Updated: July 31, 2008
	Floods: Floods in the Wake of Hurricane Dolly The first land-falling hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season, Hurricane Dolly flooded parts of Texas and Mexico when it came ashore on July 23. 1 Image, Posted: July 29, 2008
	Floods: Typhoon Fengshen Floods the Philippines A dam of water lilies triggered floods on the Rio Grande de Mindanao in the southern Philippines as heavy rain from Typhoon Fengshen drained through the river system. 1 Image, Posted: July 14, 2008
	Floods: Floods in the U.S. Midwest Heavy rains flooded several rivers in the U.S. Midwest in early June 2008. 10 Images, Updated: July 07, 2008
	Floods: Spring Floods in Siberia May brought warming temperatures and spring floods to Siberia. 1 Image, Posted: May 23, 2008

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