During the early stages of civilization—when humans followed food resources, hunting and foraging in seasonal movements--the main concern about water was finding it. When people started building permanent settlements, it became necessary in many...

A dike (or dyke) is an artificial earthen wall, constructed as a defense or as a boundary. It is also known in American English (notably in the Midwest) as a levee, from the French word levée (elevated). The best known form of dike is a construction...

Flooding in China's far west has killed 32 people, state media said Thursday, while a central city of 9 million was on high alert as the mighty Yangtze River approached dangerous heights.Heavy rainstorms in Xinjiang in the past 10 days triggered floods that led to...

Students practiced their dances and songs between sandbagging relays outside their performing arts school, where the rising Red River threatened to flood the area."I thought I would get a lot of experience with this internship, but I didn't know that sandbagging would be part of...

Rescuers raced Saturday to pump water out of two coal mines flooded by a rain-swollen river in eastern China, where 181 miners were missing and feared dead.Water levels were rising, work areas were submerged and the miners "had only slim chances of survival," the official...