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2005 New Orleans felt the raw power of this planet when Hurricane Katrina hit. It was the third strongest recorded hurricane to make landfall and caused the flooding of more than 80% of the city with almost all levee's being breached within hours of the hurricane hitting land. Estimated to have cost more than 80 billion US dollars it is the costliest natural disaster in American history. This is yet another example of how the earth's waters can display uncanny amounts of power to which our apparent controls fail.

In the United Kingdom fears have arisen that the Thames barrier protecting the capital city of London may not be sufficient to stop a rising threat of flood waters and new measures are being discussed for the creation of a secondary barrier in the county of Kent. Their worries stem from a 1 in 1000 year chance that the Thames will flood its banks threatening the capital city. Ideas for an emergency flood plain east of London are also being discussed. Government officials are also finally admitting that the imminence of this threat is real as was shown on a smaller scale by the flooding last summer in Gloucester.

Last year in august Bangladesh was hit by massive flooding which displaced an unthinkable 28 million people and caused widespread devastation across South Asia. Unfortunately flood measures in this region are nearly non existent and with approximately 150 rivers running across the country including the Jamuna it was almost impossible to prevent. Yet another example of the earth's river power

Man is known to strive for perfection and for changing his surroundings but all examples seem to point to the fact that no matter how much We believe ourselves to be in control, the earth will show us often in a deadly way how mistaken we are.

The great rivers may be held back temporarily by man made structures such as Dams, levees, flood controls and reservoirs but the fact is that the earth is in a continual state of change. And so are the rivers. They will evolve and cut new paths through the obstacles they encounter albeit man made or natural. And the fact that the earth has stood through billions of years of change and seen its share of species rise and fall points to the conclusion that only when this planet becomes part of the universe again will we see the death of our great rivers.

Learn more about this author, Richard Probert.
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