the.com/floodplain
nature's filing system for water it hasn't decided where to put yet
means The flat, low-lying land beside a river or stream that gets covered with water when the river overflows its banks.
from A transparent compound of two old English words: "flood," from Old English "flōd" (a flowing, an overflow of water, related to the verb to flow and a cousin of German "Flut"), joined to "plain," which came through Old French from Latin "planus," meaning flat or level. So the word is simply a flat place that floods — geography saying exactly what it means.
- free fertilizer
- floods leave nutrient-rich silt, making them ancient farming jackpots
- nile dependent
- Egypt's empire ran on annual floodplain deposits
- human stubbornness
- billions live there despite the name's obvious warning
- flood storage
- they absorb surges, sparing cities downstream
- insurance nightmare
- 100-year flood zones now flood far more often
mississippi river floodplain — covers 24,000 square miles across 10 us states, naturally floods seasonally
zambezi river floodplain — creates the kafue flats in zambia, supports 40,000+ people with seasonal flooding
okavango delta floodplain — 15,000 square kilometers in botswana, world's largest inland delta with annual floods