the.com/floodwall
A wall with one job: tell the river 'not today.'
means A floodwall is a built barrier, usually of concrete or earth-reinforced construction, designed to hold back rising water from a river or sea during floods.
from A straightforward compound of 'flood,' from Old English 'flod' meaning a flowing of water or a great overflow, and 'wall,' from Old English 'weall,' itself borrowed from Latin 'vallum,' a rampart or fortification built of stakes. So the word is literally what it sounds like — a rampart repurposed from keeping out armies to keeping out rivers. The term itself is a modern, functional coinage, no older than the engineering it names.
- vs levee
- usually concrete or steel, not earth
- height limit
- designed for a specific flood elevation, not infinity
- failure mode
- overtopping or seepage beats brute force
- famous example
- NYC and New Orleans built miles of them