coastal flooding

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Example of coastal flooding:

Bangladesh is a very low lying country, (only 1-2 meters in most parts). The contribution of global warming in the last few years has set in motion the rise in sea water levels, the narrow north tip to the Bay of Bengal, tropical storms that whip up wind speeds of up 225 km/h send waves (up to 8 meters tall) crashing into the coast, the shallow sea bed and the fact that water coming down from the rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra can not escape when the water level rises all contribute to the severe flooding of the Bangladesh coastline.

On the night of 29 April 1991 a powerful tropical cyclone struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph. The storm forced a 6 meter (20 foot) storm surge inland over a wide area, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.

The very large cyclone was "funnelled" down the Bay of Bengal. This was due to a low pressure area - higher sea levels - surge flooding... Snow melt from Himalayas, Deforestation - more water in rivers - more sediment build up - higher risk of flooding , Very heavy rain.

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Nature + Impact of problem:

About 115 million people live in low-lying deltas of the 3 major rivers, The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. It is predicted that a 1meter relative sea level rise would displace 13 million people more than 1 5th of the countries Monsoon rice land would be flooded. Thousands of areas of biological diversity would be lost to both plants and animals including the larges mangrove forest in the world. The habitats of many species are already threatened by salt water from the Ganges. The large population has caused depletion of all the forests, and farming ...

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