We are perpetually racing around the sun at over 100,000 km/h. Simultaneously, the Earth is rotating on its axis at over 1600 km/h – and we feel nothing. However, the Earth’s rotation and the constellation of the sun and the moon regularly create perturbations that put the oceans into oscillation. Those who have visited the oceans’ coasts could observe the wave that is slopping around the world. The tidal range, the strength of ebb and flood, is additionally influenced by weather conditions. The water level fluctuates by up to 15 meters, depending on the region. And then there is the great flood – a story passed down in various cultural circles. The flood sets the starting point for a new time after everything undesired is flooded and disappeared in the water masses. The flood has become a synonym for far too much due to its abundance.

A closer look reveals some interesting points of view.

• Term
  The Earth is covered by 71% water. These 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water are kept in motion by the sun’s constellation and the moon. The tides consist of falling water, the ebb, and rising water, the flood. They alternate twice in 25-hours. In addition, the term flood is generally used for large water masses and floods of all kinds, e.g., information flood, image flood, mail flood, request flood, goods flood, stimulus flood.
  In a figurative sense, the term stands for far too much.
• Trigger
  Floods are caused by constellations of the sun and the moon, natural disasters, and man-made influences. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, or heavy rainfall result in torrential water masses in a wide variety of places. In the Anthropocene era, humanity creates damage to nature by sealing soils with urban and road construction, plants, and industrial agriculture. It creates an imbalance that leads to ongoing climate change due to the Earth’s steady warming and climate shifting. Melting ice at the polar ice caps and significant glacial regions lead to rising sea levels that threaten megacities, such as Calcutta, Mumbai, and Guangzhou, as well as Miami, New York, and Tokyo.
  In general, floods result from far too much.
• Strength
  The water level determines the extent of a flood. Since the height of the water level in itself says nothing, a reference point is required. In the case of water, we differentiate between mean water level, mean low water, and mean high water. The highest high water is the biggest value ever measured. Besides, historic flood zones are identified. Construction activity in these areas is risky. However, after long periods without flooding, this does not deter people from building houses and streets again in these areas. A frightening example is the Fukushima region, where houses were built in known floodplains and promptly deluged again. Dam structures protect vulnerable areas as long as they are high enough. However, sea levels are rising due to climate change, requiring more extensive dam installations – until the water can no longer be kept out. The habitats of more than 250 million people, especially in the East of Asia and along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, are at risk of flooding in the foreseeable future. For the other floods (see above), levels still need to be established to speak of a flood.
  In a figurative sense, there is also a need for metrics for far too much.
• Consequences
  The effects of a flood are not limited to the actual flooding but also include the long-term aftermath. While earlier floods were passed down through gossip, today, we see videos that show what happens almost in real-time. In 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake, triggering a tsunami that claimed more than 220 thousand lives and was immediately in the news and on the Internet. As a result, drinking water sources were contaminated, 1.7 million people were left homeless, fertile farmland washed away, and entire swaths of land became uninhabitable. Within a year, an estimated $13.8 billion was allocated to rebuild the affected regions. Today, 300 fully automated, land-based monitoring stations provide an early warning system. Floods also threaten all types of technical infrastructure. In Fukushima, unexpectedly severe waves led to a super hazard and still radioactively contaminated landscapes in the Sendai region. In exceptional cases, floods also create habitat. The annual flooding of the Nile provided the fertile soil and moisture that this early advanced civilization needed.
  In the common parlance of far too much, floods overload and stress the people affected.
• Meaning
  The flood has especially the meaning of far too much. This metaphor is applicable when something happens, is done or developed, is approaching, increases, or transforms. It overflows whenever the same thing keeps growing – e.g., phones are ringing incessantly, increasingly more emails arrive; decisions are requested more frequently; a message spreads virally on the Internet; a rising number of customers storm the shop; computer net use explodes; minor improvements challenge an overall system. The image of a flood is mainly used in different areas of communication – the flood of data that buries insights; the flood of informing needs that blur clear messages; the flood of demand that leads to a large number of offers; the flood of problems in which the fragmentation of interests drowns those who suffer. In most cases, floods are frightening. For this reason, the term should be accompanied by benefits: many requests are a sign of interest; mass decisions are a sign of momentum; massive amounts of data are a basis for expert analysis; multi-faceted problems are mastered with a structured approach.
  It is, in most cases, commonly true that far too much is better than too little.

Bottom line: The flood is a bad image that arouses fears with its far too much. The term can be found for thousands of years as viral memes in a wide variety of cultures. Most triggers lead to severe threats to which we can only react. In the end, a flood causes significant damage. With appropriate preparation and follow-up, these can be mitigated as much as possible and eventually overcome. The same applies in a figurative sense to the abstract floods of perception, thought, communication, and action, leading to fear and distress in those affected. This makes the flood an ideal metaphor for far too much.