Im sure a lot of you guys have seen a flood before, maybe a river burst its banks or a
storm sent waves crashing into a town.
Most of the time, theres no serious danger.
Flash floods are a whole different thing though.
They happen quickly, because of human or natural reasons, and sometimes there is no time to
react before immense amounts of water destroy everything in their path.
My name is Danny Burke and this is the Top 10 Scary Flash Floods Nobody Saw Coming.
Just to let you guys know, these arent in order of death tolls or damage, Ive tried
to keep it varied so with that said, lets start at number 10 with 2010 Pakistan.
In July 2010, heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan cause the Indus River to swell to unprecedented
levels, flooding the low lying areas around it.
In one area, 10.8 inches of rain fell in 24 hours.
The resulting flash floods spread over 20% of the entire country.
When the waters subsided, the damage was astounding.
1.89 houses had been destroyed - leaving 6 million people without homes.
1,781 people were killed with a further 2,966 injured.
17 million acres of land was submerged, killing 200,000 livestock.
A government minister called it the worst flood in the countrys history.
Next up at number 9 now we have 2016 South Africa.
In November 2016, 3 and a half inches of rain fell in just 3 hours during a storm.
The floods hit hard and they hit fast.
Check out this clip of a car being pulled by the waters, it really shows the true power
of this flash flood.
6 people died in the floods but the number could have been a lot worse.
One of the uplifting parts of the story were the clips of people working together to save
people trapped in their cars.
Coming in at number 8 we have the Johnstown Flood.
This is thought to be the most deadly flash flood in US history.
On May 31st 1889, the South Fork Dam broke near Johnstown Pennsylvania after several
days of extremely heavy rainfall.
14.55 million cubic meters of water was released - hitting the town in full force.
A 30ft wall of water destroyed everything in is path.
It pushed debris all the way to the other side of the town where it caught fire.
80 people died in those flames but the total death toll was even more shocking.
Its though that 2,209 people lost their lives on this fateful day - American laws were changed
forever to make sure it never happened again.
Next up at number 7 we have the Nebraska Hospital.
This one is from August 2014, when flash floods in Nebraska hit the town of Kearney.
To fully understand just how rapid and powerful they were, the Good Samaritan Hospital in
the town uploaded this video onto their Facebook page of the waters bursting through the doors
and onto the ground floor.
Luckily, nobody was hurt - you can see people making their way cautiously to the 2nd floor.
Moving on to number 6 we have Southern Utah.
The clip youre about to see was uploaded by YouTuber David of -Rankinstudio- in 2013.
In July, about 3 inches of rain fell in a short amount of time, causing a flash flood
full of debris to sweep across Southern Utah.
It turned the dry barrens into a raging torrent in just a few minutes.
They knew where the water was heading so they set up and got this incredible footage.
Next up at number 5 we have Big Island.
The rolling grassy hills of Waikoloa on Hawaiis Big Island are usually serene.
That all changed in April 2011 when heavy rain caused an unprecedented flash flood in
the area.
YouTuber -i reporter hawaii was in the right place at the right time to capture this footage.
This isnt a swollen river or anything, it was genuinely just grassy land that quickly
turned into an aggressive flash flood.
The hardened lava rocks turned it into ferocious rapids.
The guy filming goes closer to get a better view - this is something I do not recommend.
If you ever find yourself witnessing a flash flood, run and find higher ground.
The clips are not worth it!
Moving on to number 4 now we have the Uttrakhand Flood.
This province in Northern India experienced devastating floods in June and July of 2013
after a cloudburst caused the worst natural disaster since the 2004 Tsunami.
The footage youre seeing shows just how bad it really got.
4,200 villages were affected resulting in the tragic deaths of 5,748 people.
The Indian army had to be called in to help rescue 110,000 people from the flooded area.
(2:00 building collapse)
At number 3 now we have 2016 Nepal.
Nepal has faced a number of brutal flash floods in its history, including one in 2016 that
left 64 people dead and 20 missing.
It happened during the monsoon season where rainfall caused two major rivers to burst
their banks.
The footage youre seeing now is from a viral clip on YouTube that has since racked up over
2 million views.
By any standards, this flash flood would have been enough of a disaster - but it was made
even worse by the fact that many Nepalis were still living in makeshift tents after a devastating
Earthquake hit the country.
At number 2 now we have Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon.
Were going back again to Utah in 2013 for this one where the same flash floods we talked
about earlier resulted in this incredible footage.
It was uploaded by UtahMotoTrails to YouTube and in the description, they say it shows
just how fast things can get ugly.
They were panicking a little bit because the forecast had said there was a low chance of
rain and now they found themselves in this narrow canyon with only one way out.
They said it was lucky they remembered the way back because there was no chance of out
running such a rapid torrent of water …
And finally at number 1 now we have the Machchhu Damn failure.
This is considered the worst flash flood in history - and for good reason.
The dam was completed in 1972 and for 7 years, it did its job - holding back and regulating
the flow of the Machhu river.
But then, on August 11th 1979 - after days of excessive rain - the earthen walls of the
dam began to disintegrate.
The flow of water was 3 times higher than the dam was designed for, leading to its collapse.
The water hit the town of Morbi and other nearby villages.
Government officials put the death toll at 1800 but some experts say there has been a
coverup and the real number could be as high was 25,000 people.
To this day, people are still fighting to find out the truth.
Well, that was a real eye opening to the immense power of nature.
Theres also a lot to be said for how much climate change is increasing the rate of flash
floods in vulnerable areas.
What do you guys have to say on that?
Im Danny Burke, thanks as always for watching and Ill see you all in the next video.