, and smash buildings. (Dennis Fradin) Volcano eruptions can also cause tsunamis like in 1883 when Krakatoa erupted killing 37,000 people making it the worst tsunami in history.China is the largest and most populated country on the earth. It is also where the worst flood in history occurred. In 1887 the Yellow River toped its seventy-foot-tall levees and flooded eleven cities and hundreds of surrounding villages. This flood became the deadliest flood ever by killing at least 900,000 people. Thousands of square miles of farmland was covered in water that sometimes stood twenty feet deep over farm houses. It took two years for this much water to recede. With crops washed away there was little to eat; it is not known how many starved to death. In 1889 Johnstown Pennsylvania flooded. Fourteen miles away from Johnstown the Little Conemaugh River had been dammed to form Lake Conemaugh. The dam was owned by a country club and was known to be in poor condition. The members sailed and fished on the lake but did little to repair the dam. May 30, 1889 was Memorial Day and it rained hard. The river and lake rose quickly and the next day the water topped the dam and spilled over the top. By three in the afternoon the dam had broken. The water smashed through several towns including Johnstown killing over 2,200 people. Flooding also causes other natural disasters. (Michael Burgan &Robin Doak) The heavy rains that often cause flooding can also cause mudslides that destroy anything in their path. Floods can destroy crops causing famine or taint water supplies and cause an outbreak of disease. But not all flooding is bad. Every year the Amazon River in Brazil floods its banks. The forests fill with water and the land animals head for higher ground. Anyone who lives in the Amazon River basin builds their homes on high ground or on stilts. Even family gardens are planted in raised beds several feet of the ground to keep them safe from the...
