For people who live in flood prone areas, the event of having “too much rain” is not difficult to define. Ironically, the same can apply to areas that have suffered from lengthy and devastating droughts. In the course the affairs of living things, there is too much rain when the ground becomes quickly saturated and cannot retain any more water. Depending on the topography, not only does flood result, but the bonds between grains of dirt or sections of rock can be broken and cause devastating destabilization and falling of sections of hills and mountainsides.
When phenomena such as atmospheric rivers or “pineapple express” events happen, massive columns of water are virtually drawn up into the atmosphere, then carried for thousands of miles, where the water is dumped unceremoniously and without stopping until all of the water is released. “Atmospheric rivers” are recently observable due to the advances in satellite, space, and other technologies for observing and analyzing atmospheric meteorological events.
In Northern California for example, the “Pineapple Express” phenomena tends to create massive and rapid melting of the Sierra Nevada snow packs, which overwhelms the capacity of the Feather, Yuba, Sacramento, and other river systems and the dams that have been built to store water and to regulate water for flood control. As another example, in China, Summer is the rainy season. In July of 2009, flooding that was caused by the massive rainfall was so severe that hundreds of thousands were forced to flee and 75 people were killed.1
Another aspect of “too much rain” in relation to the survival of living things is the washing away of fertile topsoil which leaves behind sand and silt that cannot sustain plant growth. This can lead to erosion and desertification of land.2
When flood waters remain standing for too long, existing crops are deprived of oxygen and die. Various forms of fungi abound, especially nematodes that favor wet conditions. These fungi can devastate orchards and other crops and require massive spraying with highly toxic fungicides, or devastating loss of crops. The replacement stone fruit and nut bearing trees can take up to five years before they can produce a profitable crop.
Too much rain contributes to death and putrefaction of animals, as the birds and insects that are crucial to breaking down of dead animals, rotting plant material and fungi can also be drowned out. This death and putrefaction leads to infection of the water table with whatever waterborne diseases that flourished in the wild and domesticated animals, including e-coli.
In fact, the entire ecology of the region is disrupted as snake nests are drowned out and the rodent population booms. Feral predators that do not drown find that their feeding grounds are disturbed and must migrate to higher or drier ground in order to survive, creating problems for everything that lives on higher or drier ground. In tropical regions where mosquitoes abound, malarial and other mosquito borne disease vectors get out of control.
As a result of the wide and varied negative impact on living things, yes, there can be too much rain when that which sustains life is put out of order with devastating and long lasting results.
CITATIONS
Voice Of America “China Flooding Kills 75”
Homeland Security Newswire “Floods Strip Midwest of Topsoil”
