FLOODS Although water is necessary for all life,a flood is too much of a good thing. Floods most often occur because more rain falls than an area can absorb in a given period of time.This can cause landslides,broken dams and rising rivers.when rivers rise slowly, people may have time to leave the area before water overflows the banks. when torrential rain quickly sweeps into an area,-it can cause what is called a flash flood. Because these floods happen too quickly for people to get to higher ground, flash floods can cause many deaths.Tsunamis, hurricanes and broken dams can create dangerous waves,storm surges or moving walls of water that overrun everything in their path.Entire pdrainage systems can overflow,especially in urban areas where there is not enough open land to soak up the water. Over the last century, the highest death toll-several million people-from a natural disaster was from a 1931 flood in China. SOUTHERN CHINA,2008 In June of 2008,large areas of southern China experienced day after day of heavy rainfall. Because the water level rose slowly,many people were able to evacuate. The floods caused landslides;destroyed homes,roads and crops;and displaced more than