Why Does Flooding Occur?

5/13/2019 (Permalink)

Flood scene in downtown Davenport

There are few places in the world that do not have to worry about flooding. As it goes, ‘where there is rain, there will be flooding’. And, being a local business in the Quad Cities for over 25 years, we have seen our fair share of flooding on the Mississippi and Rock River, and we know the devastation it causes in our communities.

Technically, flooding is when typically dry land becomes overwhelmed and covered by a sustained water presence. But how does this process take place? What makes a river flood? Rain is a large contributor: as rain water pours into rivers from creeks and storm drains, the river is overwhelmed with water and its banks encroach on adjacent dry land, referred to as the floodplain. While river flooding can be caused by heavy rains, there are other causes. One of these include rapidly melting ice or snow that pours into storm drains and finds its way into streams and rivers; this will very quickly add to the normal amount of water flowing in a river and cause level rises as the water moves downstream. We experienced a great deal of this with record snow fall this year.

As we know in the Quad Cities, it can take several days for flooding to develop, giving our residents time to prepare for the incoming water. But this flood in particular was difficult to be ready for, as the flood water has stuck around for a record length of time, and was higher than any in history. As we recover in our communities from this devastation, SERVPRO is “Here to Help” with residential and commercial clean-ups. If you have experienced water damage, call SERVPRO at 563-386-3540 to make it “Like it never even happened."