Flood occurs when it rains heavily. Rivers are the only outlets of the rain water. When it rains heavily, the river bed swells. There is overflow of water on the banks in the river. We call it flood. As the rain continues for days the, water level in the river rises. We call it high flood. Generally, flood helps the farmers. There is deposit of silt in agricultural land. It makes the land fertile and thus helps in the increase of food production.
But high flood is harmful. It destroys the crops. Very often fertile lands are unfortunately covered with sands. In that case flood is an adversary of the farmers. Many thatched houses are washed away in flood. The road links between one village and the other are also affected.
Working class people suffer a lot. Because! They do not get any work arid earn nothing. Cattle also face the problem of food as the grazing lands lie under water. Drinking water is another problem during flood. People take impure water. Thus epidemic attacks the people in flood affected area.
Deforestation is one of the reasons of flood. People are cutting down trees and destroying the forests. The rain water instead of being absorbed down through the tree roots flows on the surface. Soil erosion is another disadvantage of flood. Very often the course of the river changes. The passage of the river gets blocked with heavy deposit of soil on the mouth. It results in more and more flood as the excess rain water finds obstacle in being let out into the sea.
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High flood inflicts untold human misery. Government help at the time of flood is often inadequate. The relief- work by Voluntary organisations is also quite negligible. People endure this natural calamity without grumbling.