Seattle Doesn’t Get Rain
Average of 52 inches of precipitation annually.
140th in national cities

Brazilian Floods
World Bank preparing $485million for Flood Aid
More than 700 deaths from flooding and mudslides
Worst disaster in Brazil’s history
Apparent Cause:  More than 1 foot of rainfall over the course of two days.  Mudslides caused bulk of death and destruction.

Australian Floods
Overview/Analysis
“On par with New Orleans”
Approx. 30 dead, damages estimated at up to $40billion
Apparent Cause:  Excessive rainfall.  Australia’s hard soil cannot soak it up fast enough, and the barriers in place to prevent spillage from lakes and rivers were quickly overrun.
Sharks Seen Swimming Down Australian Streets

New Orleans Floods in 2005 – Hurricane Katrina
Wikipedia Article
Costliest natural disaster in US history: $81billion in damages, and more than 1800 dead.
Apparent Cause:  An estimated HALF of the deaths and damages caused by the flooding associated with Katrina, were due to levee failure. Investigations are still underway regarding culpability as many accuse the gov’t of knowing about the weakened levees and not acting.

Tennessee Floods in 2010
Wikipedia Article
The uplifting part of this disaster was the response by the community of Nashville-based musicians which, since May, have raised almost $100million total toward Flood Relief in Tennessee.
Apparent Cause: 15-20 inches of rainfall sustained over a two-day period. Rivers overran their protective flood precautions.