ELI5- How does only 17″ of rain cause multiple feet of floodwater?

87 viewsOtherPlanetary Science

My little girl is 7 and just isn’t wrapping her head around this and I need to find a better way to explain this.

She is so so smart because she saw the coverage of Helene, and heard 17″ and hot confused.

I told her the water runs from the high places to the low places, but then she asked why the water doesn’t leave the low places and why is it still flooded.

I’m bad at dumbing things down.

In: Planetary Science

17 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Run your kitchen sink at a trickle with semi-closed drain.
This is normal rain.

Run your kitchen sink on full with semi-closed drain. This is more rain than the drainage system can handle.

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