In one instance, heavy rains had washed mines down to the centre of the village.

Elsewhere, the crisis has swept away the benefits of several years of economic reform.

The pile of debris resulting from the Bonneville Slide blocked the river until rising water finally washed away the sediment.

Where the storm flood of 1170 made a beginning, this storm worsened it, washing away large peat areas.

This was part of a wave of deregulation that swept away Franklin Roosevelt s promise to chase the money changers from the temple.

Two factors causing this sea enlargement were important first was the sea area increase, second the presence of large peat areas, which were easily washed away.

In the spring of 2002, after the connecting pipe was washed away, the pumps on the west bank were disconnected and have not been used since.

So his thought was that flooding in the north of Africa actually brought those coniferous trees down tens of thousands of years ago, and what resulted was this remarkable adaptation to this unique desert environment.

It was a natural island in the Alboran Sea until 1934, when a huge thunderstorm washed large quantities of sand in the short channel between the island and the African continent, turning it into a tombolo.