> I just read an update on the rains in India, especially the city of Bombay. As if what they've gotten already wasn't enough, it's started raining AGAIN. I just can't picture the kind of storm that could produce 37 inches in one day. It would be scary to be in something like that and watch the streets turn into rivers. Even a few inches of rain creates havoc if it doesn't have time to soak in.
> I can easily imagine 37 inches of snow, because that doesn't take nearly as much moisture, but that much rain just boggles the imagination. I have lived in Colorado most of my life, and I don't think that all of the rain we've gotten in the last 4 YEARS would total 37 inches. I sure hope I never see anything like what those poor people in Bombay are going through.

It depends on the terrain and soil type, but it usually takes a lot less than that to create a flood. In mountains, it runs off quickly, creating slides and flash floods in the valleys. In low-lying land it just spreads and spreads. Dry sandy soil helps because water soaks in quickly and runs off below the surface, but no soil is porus enough to absorb 37 inches in one day.

I think the most I ever saw was about 12 or 14 inches in 24 hours and that was in a hurricane in 1949. There was no serious flooding, and the storm surge hit at low tide, so that wasn't a real big problem either. The wind made a major mess.

Here in Tennessee, we get two or three inches from a localized storm and that results in street flooding, but usually it isn't a problem. It's when you get widespread heavy rains for days and days that makes our rivers rise. It doesn't happen often.
Howard