Flash Floods

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(Image via KTAR News)

Daniela Ortiz, Writer

This past year there has been a lot of chaos around the country and the world weather-wise. Flash floods are currently taking over some places around the country and other regions all over the world. Flash floods are not like normal floods, flash floods are much more hazardous to people of the communities because of their high speeds and they will occur unexpectedly in a very short amount of time, so everyone has to be aware. State flooding has been a common occurrence this year.

Currently, Chicago is in an “exacerbated” state of flooding. Many drivers have tried to pass by the water in their cars but failed as their cars would get stuck, which is something that shouldn’t have to be worried about. According to WGN9, “Some residents in Waukegan even had to be rescued from their very own homes due to the dangerous floodings.” These major floods were caused because of thunderstorms and heavy rain in Chicago. The weather got so bad that even 1,000 flights were canceled. 

Another place that is going through these floods is the United Kingdom. Britain has been flooded because of heavy rain this past week. Remains of Hurricane Lorenzo are also part of what has been causing these dangerous floods in Britain. Some areas of the UK were hit by “a week’s rain in just an hour” because of thunderstorms hitting. In the UK flights were also delayed because of this. More than 2 inches of rain had fallen in just a couple of hours. Firefighters have been busy during these times helping people out, including having to go and pump water out of flooded houses, and even helped two people and a dog that was trapped in a van. About 3,000 residents had to be evacuated out of their homes so they can be in a safe place. Until now conditions seem to be awful. Many roads are currently blocked by all the water covering them which doesn’t allow vehicles to drive through. The Met Office reported that they saw the highest amount of rainfall being 46.4mm in just 12 hours in Cromer, on Norfolk’s coast. Also, it was reported that in Islay, Scotland 55.6 mm of rain fell in a time of 24 hours. In Northern and Eastern England as much as 100mm of rain had fallen which is about an entire month’s worth of rain. Sporting events were also canceled this Sunday because of this. On the Isle of Man, vehicles were washed away by the strong currents, emergency services had to be on it right away to avoid even more disaster. If the rain continues to be this bad it is said that 1.6-2 inches of rain will fall in a couple of hours in some parts. These occurrences seem to be happening as an aftereffect of Hurricane Lorenzo which was one of the strongest ever recorded. Emergency services are in full effect trying to make sure that the residents all over the United Kingdom are safe and not having to deal with even more flooding issues.