section_path: Negative impacts
section_name: Negative impacts
paragraph_text: Negative impacts
  
  Floods can also be a huge destructive power. When water flows, it has the ability to demolish all kinds of buildings and objects, such as bridges, structures, houses, trees, and cars. Economical, social and natural environmental damages are common factors that are impacted by flooding events and the impacts that flooding has on these areas can be catastrophic.
  
  There have been numerous flood incidents around the world which have caused devastating damage to infrastructure, the natural environment and human life. Flood risks can be defined as the risk that floods pose to individuals, property and the natural landscape based on specific hazards and vulnerability. The extent of flood risks can impact the types of mitigation strategies required and implemented.
  
  Floods can have devastating impacts to human societies. Flooding events worldwide are increasing in frequency and severity, leading to increasing costs to societies. A large amount of the world's population lives in close proximity to major coastlines, while many major cities and agricultural areas are located near floodplains. There is significant risk for increased coastal and fluvial flooding due to changing climatic conditions.
  
  Catastrophic riverine flooding can result from major infrastructure failures, often the collapse of a dam. It can also be caused by drainage channel modification from a landslide, earthquake or volcanic eruption. Examples include outburst floods and lahars. Tsunamis can cause catastrophic coastal flooding, most commonly resulting from undersea earthquakes.