“…In the 2,540 years prior to AD 1946, the Yellow River has been reckoned to have flooded 1,593 times, shifting its course 26 times noticeably and nine times severely. These floods include some of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Before modern disaster management, when floods occurred, some of the population might initially die from drowning but then many more would suffer from the ensuing famine and spread of diseases…”
And yes, some floods were caused by man: “…On 9 June 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-Shek broke the levees holding back the river near the village of Huayuankou in Henan, causing what has been called a “war-induced natural disaster”. The goal of the operation was to stop the advancing Japanese troops by following a strategy of “using water as a substitute for soldiers” (yishui daibing). The 1938 flood of an area covering 54,000 km2 (20,800 sq mi) took some 500,000 to 900,000 Chinese lives, along with an unknown number of Japanese soldiers…”
Sssshhhh! Ancient Chinese secret.
“…In the 2,540 years prior to AD 1946, the Yellow River has been reckoned to have flooded 1,593 times, shifting its course 26 times noticeably and nine times severely. These floods include some of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Before modern disaster management, when floods occurred, some of the population might initially die from drowning but then many more would suffer from the ensuing famine and spread of diseases…”
And yes, some floods were caused by man: “…On 9 June 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-Shek broke the levees holding back the river near the village of Huayuankou in Henan, causing what has been called a “war-induced natural disaster”. The goal of the operation was to stop the advancing Japanese troops by following a strategy of “using water as a substitute for soldiers” (yishui daibing). The 1938 flood of an area covering 54,000 km2 (20,800 sq mi) took some 500,000 to 900,000 Chinese lives, along with an unknown number of Japanese soldiers…”