Abstract
Floods are among the most common natural hazards with complex and far-reaching impacts. Coastal floods are most often caused by storm surge (coastal), rivers that exceed their flood stage capacity (fluvial), and torrential rainfall (pluvial). Increasingly, compound flooding by all three causes is the most severe. The adverse consequences of flood events, especially coastal flooding, to human health. Drowning is the major cause of death, followed by heart attacks, hypothermia, blunt trauma caused by wind-borne objects and vehicle-related accidents. Snakebites, electrocution and wound infections are also causes of death. Less obvious health impacts involve diseases and toxins spread by water and water-nurtured vectors (e.g. mosquitos).
“Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out” (what the crocodile has for dinner).
—Rudyard Kipling-The Elephant’s Child
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Anderson, D.M. 2017. Harmful algal blooms. In Harmful algal blooms (HABs) and desalination: A guide to impacts, monitoring and management, ed. D.M. Anderson, S.F.E. Boerlage, M.B. Dixon, 17–52. Paris, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, 2017. 539pp. (IOC Manuals and Guides No.78.) (English.) (IOC/2017/MG/78).
Beard, C.B., and R.J. Eisen. 2016. Chapter 5. Vector borne diseases. In The Impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: A scientific assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC.
Berdalet, E., M. Montresor, B. Reguera, S. Roy, H. Yamazaki, A. Cembella, and R. Raine. 2017. Harmful algal blooms in fjords, coastal embayments, and stratified systems: Recent progress and future research. Oceanography 30 (1): 46–57. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2017.109.
Buesseler, Ken O. 2014. Fukushima and ocean radioactivity. Oceanography 27 (1): 92–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2014.02.
Colwell, R.R. 1996. Global climate and infectious disease: The cholera paradigm. Science 274 (5295): 2025–2031. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5295.2025.
Cookman, L., and M. Huqi. 2013. Meningitis secondary to Cryptococcus gattii, an emerging pathogen affecting immunocompetent hosts. World Journal of Emergency Medicine 4 (2): 151–153. https://doi.org/10.5847/wjem.j.issn.1920-8642.2013.02.012.
Cutter, S.L., K. Ash, and C. Emrich. 2014. The geographies of community disaster resilience. Global Environmental Change 29: 65–77.
Cutter, S.L., C.G. Burton, and C.T. Emrich. 2010. Disaster resilience indicators for benchmarking baseline conditions. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 7(1), Article 51. https://doi.org/10.2202/1547-7355.1732.
Doocy, S., A. Daniels, S. Murray, T.D. Kirsch. 2013. The human impact of floods: A historical review of events 1980–2009 and systematic literature review. PLOS Currents Disasters. 2013 Apr 16. 1st ed. https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.dis.f4deb457904936b07c09daa98ee8171a.
Euripidou, E., and V. Murray. 2004. Public health impacts of floods and chemical contamination. Journal of Public Health 26 (4): 376–383. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdh163.
Fernandez, Ana, John Black, Mairwen Jones, Leigh Wilson, Luis Salvador-Carulla, Thomas Astell-Burt, and Deborah Black. 2015. Flooding and mental health: A systematic mapping review. PLoS One 10 (4): e0119929. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119929.
Frank, N.L., and S.A. Husain. 1971. The deadliest tropical cyclone in history? Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 52 (6): 438–44.
Fritz, H.M., C.D. Blount, S. Thwin, M.K. Thu, and N. Chan. 2009. Cyclone Nargis torm surge in Myanmar. Nature Geoscience 2: 448–449. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo558.
Glibert, P.M., and M.A. Burford. 2017. Globally changing nutrient loads and harmful algal blooms: Recent advances, new paradigms and continuing challenges. Oceanography 30 (1): 58–69.
Griffin, D.W., V.H. Garrison, J.R. Herman, and E.A. Shinn. 2001. African desert dust in the Caribbean atmosphere: Microbiology and public health. Aerobiologia 17: 203–213.
Goes, J.I., P.G. Thoppil, H. Gomes, and J.T. Fasullo. 2005. Warming of the Eurasian landmass is making the Arabian Sea more productive. Science 308 (5721): 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1106610.
Guillard-Gonçalves, C., S.L. Cutter, C.T. Emrich, and J.L. Zêzere. 2014. Application of social vulnerability index (SoVI) and delineation of natural risk zones in Greater Lisbon. Journal of Risk Research 18 (5): 651–674.
Hays, J. 2008. Great Tsunami of 2004 in Thailand and Malaysia Facts and Details. http://factsanddetails.com/asian/cat63/sub411/item2544.html#chapter-0.
Henry, W.K., D.M. Driscoll, and J.P. McCormack. 1982. Hurricanes on the Texas Coast center for applied geosciences. Texas: Texas A&M University.
Keim, M.E. 2006. Cyclones, tsunamis, and human health: The key role of preparedness. Oceanography 19 (2): 40–49.
Kudela, R.M., E. Berdalet, H. Enevoldsen, G. Pitcher, R. Raine, and E. Urban. 2017. GEOHAB–The global ecology and oceanography of harmful algal blooms program: Motivation, goals, and legacy. Oceanography 30 (1): 12–21. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2017.106.
Lane, K., K. Charles-Guzman, K. Wheeler, Z. Abid, N. Graber, and T. Matte. 2013. Health effects of coastal storms and flooding in urban areas: A review and vulnerability assessment. Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2013: 13, Article ID 913064, https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/913064.
Larson, E. 1999. Isaac’s storm, 323. New York: Crown Publishers.
Lemonick, D.M. 2011. Epidemics after natural disasters. American Journal of Clinical Medicine 8 (3): 144–153.
Mansour, S.A. 2013. Impact of climate change on air and water borne diseases. Air and Waterborne Diseases 3, https://doi.org/10.4172/2167-7719.1000e126.
Mas, E., J. Bricker, S. Kure, B. Adriano, C. Yi, A. Suppasri, and S. Koshimura. 2015. Field survey report and satellite image interpretation of the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions 15: 805–816.
Maze, G., M.J. Olascoaga, and L. Brand. 2015. Historical analysis of environmental conditions during Florida Red Tide. Harmful Algae 50: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2015.10.003.
Mills, M.A., D. Edmondson, and C.L. Park. 2007. Trauma and stress response among Hurricane Katrina evacuees. American Journal of Public Health 97 (Supplement 1): S116–S123.
Morfin, J., S.G. Crandall, G.S. Gilbert. 2014. Seasonal trends in airborne fungal spores in coastal california ecosystems. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2014, abstract #A23B-3235.
Norris, F., S. Stevens, B. Pfefferbaum, K. Wyche, and R. Pfefferbaum. 2008. Community resilience as a metaphor, theory, set of capacities, and strategy for disaster readiness. American Journal of Community Psychology 41 (1): 127–50.
Picou, J.S., and K. Hudson. 2010. Hurricane Katrina and mental health: A research note on Mississippi Gulf Coast residents. Sociological Inquiry 80 (3): 513–524.
Rashid, S.F. 2000. The urban poor in Dhaka city: Their struggles and coping strategies during the floods of 1998. Disasters 24 (3): 240–253.
Smith, L. 2017. Zika virus: Symptoms, facts and affected countries. Medical News Today, April 24, 2017.
Springer, D.J., R.B. Billmyre, E.E. Filler, K. Voelz, R. Pursall, P.A. Mieczkowski, et al. 2014. Cryptococcus gattii VGIII isolates causing infections in HIV/AIDS patients in Southern California: Identification of the local environmental source as Arboreal. PLoS Pathogens 10 (8): e1004285. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004285.
Sturgis, S. 2015. The Katrina oil spill disaster: A harbinger for the Atlantic Coast?. Durham: NC Institute for Southern Studies.
Swaney, D.P., B. Hong, A. Paneer Selvam, R.W. Howarth, R. Ramesh, and R. Purvaja. 2014. Net anthropogenic nitrogen inputs and nitrogen fluxes from Indian watersheds: An initial assessment. Journal of Marine Systems 141: 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.09.004.
Trtani, J., L. Jantarasmi, J. Brunkard, T. Collier, J. Jacobs, E. Lipp, S. McLellan, S. Moore, H. Paerl, J. Ravenscroft, M. Sengco, and T. Thurston. 2016. The impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: A scientific assessment Capt. 6 in climate impacts on water related illness. Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program.
Van Zandt, S., W.G. Peacock, D.W. Henry, H. Grover, W.E. Highfield, and S.D. Brody. 2012. Mapping social vulnerability to enhance housing and neighborhood resilience. Housing Policy Debate 22 (1): 29–55.
Vasconcelos, P. 2006. Flooding in Europe: A brief review of the health risks. Euro Surveill 11(16): 2947. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=2947Eurosurveillance, 20 April 2006.
World Health Organization. 2003. Climate change and human health—Risk and responses summary, 36.
World Nuclear Association. 2017. Fukushima accident (April 2017 update).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wright, L.D., D’Elia, C.F., Nichols, C.R. (2019). Impacts of Coastal Waters and Flooding on Human Health. In: Wright, L., Nichols, C. (eds) Tomorrow's Coasts: Complex and Impermanent. Coastal Research Library, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75453-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75453-6_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75452-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75453-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)