Q: How did seasonal flooding help ancient Egypt? A: In Ancient Egypt, monsoon rains at the source of the river would cause the waterway to extend out a good distance during the summer. In this case, the flooding wasn't a disaster, but a good thing. The expanding waters would leave fertile silt all along the banks of the river, making the area ideal farming land once the river had subsided again.

Water is one of the most useful things on Earth. We drink it, bathe in it, clean with it and use it to cook food. Most of the time, it is completely benign. But in large enough quantities, the very same stuff we use to rinse a toothbrush can overturn cars, demolish houses and even kill. Flooding has claimed millions of lives in the last hundred years alone, more than any other weather phenomenon.

In this article, we'll find out what makes water change character so rapidly and see what happens when it does. We'll explore the negative impact of floods as well as some of the benefits. We'll also examine how human construction can contain flooding or, in some cases, cause it.

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