Riverine flooding is another way to say river floods. When a river reaches its floodstage, water can rise and spill over the banks of the river. The amount of flooding is usually a function of the amount of precipitation in an area, the amount of time it takes for rainfall to accumulate, previous saturation of local soils, and the terrain around the river system. For instance, a river located in a braod, flat floodplain will often overflow to create shallow and persistent flood waters in an area that do not recede for extended periods of time. The most widely recognized type of riverine flood is the overbank flood.
Overbank Flooding
Overbank flooding can occur in most any size river or stream. In overbank flooding, the waters will rise and overflow over the edges of a river or stream channel. These are the most common types of floods. Overbank flooding can occur in the tiniest stream or might rivers such as the occurred in the Midwest floods of 2008.
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