Florida can be described as a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by salt water: the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The
low lying areas of Florida are particularly susceptible to salt water intrusions and flooding. What is one way that such a disaster would greatly impact human life?
Flooding and intrusion of salt water in the low lying areas can adversely affect human life. This can happen in the following ways:
Flooding can cause many people to die due to drowning in the flood water.
Many people lose their habitat and all their belongings due to the entry of water into the settlements having only the ground floors. These people need to rehabilitated to safer regions.
The saline water percolates through the ground and mixes with the fresh water present in the water table, thereby making them saline and non-consumable.
People have to face the dearth of food, drinking water, clothes and electricity until rescue operations are sent.
Increased chance of transmission of water-communicable or water-borne diseases like diarrhoea.
