Flood waters are rising all over the U.S. and Canada

In the past month there have been a barage of seasonal floods reported which consumed entire towns and states and destroyed the lives and routines of millions of people. From the Gulf Katrina Hurricane in New Orleans in 2005 to the Mississippi rising of rain waters in May 2011 there have been dozens of floods which appear to be seasonal but are growing increasingly more damaging. Many of the drainage basins represented in a research sample of 572 gaging stations in the U.S. have experienced significant anthropogenic modification, associated with regulation by dams and changes in the land use/land cover [e.g.,Magilligan and Stamp, 1997; Magilligan and Nislow, 2001; Negley and Eshleman, 2006; Ferrari et al., 2009] In this study they don't attempt to identify “natural” drainage basins for analyses, but take the point of view that alterations to basin properties is the norm for flood records, both in the United States and throughout the world. Any analyses of flood peak distributions should provide a broader view of the regional flood peak distribution that reflects anthropogenic changes. Quebec, Canadian citizens have been dealing with flood waters and recently the Canadian government sent in military aid to help control and minimize the damages while trying to keep the rising waters at bay. Canadian soldiers were sent in to help flood victims in Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu, Quebec area this past week. Floodwaters along the Richelieu River dropped slightly overnight but there are still about 3,000 homes and businesses swamped and about 1,000 people have been forced to leave their homes a few days ago.