, rainstorms induced thousands of landslides along the Cordillera de la Costa, Vargas, northern Venezuela. Rainfall on December 2-3 totaled 200 millimeters (8 inches) and was followed by a major storm (911 millimeters, or 36 inches) on December 14 through 16. Debris flows and flash floods on alluvial fans inundated coastal communities, caused severe property destruction, and resulted in a death toll estimated at 19,000 people. Because most of the coastal zone in Vargas consists of steep mountain fronts that rise abruptly from the Caribbean Sea, the alluvial fans are the only areas where slopes are not too steep to build. Rebuilding and reoccupation of these areas requires careful determination of potential hazard zones to avoid future loss of life and property.
Alluvial fans in urban and rural areas are sites of episodic, rainfall‐induced natural hazards [Garner 1959; Campbell, 1975; Wieczorek et al., 2001]. Debris flows, hyper‐concentrated flows, and flash floods that occur episodically in these alluvial fan environments place many communities at high risk during intense and prolonged rainfall. Although scientists have become better able to define areas of high natural hazard, population expansion and development pressures in such areas have put more people at risk than ever before. Recognition of the magnitude and distribution of debris‐flow and flash‐flood hazards is therefore a critically important area of natural hazard research.
Estimates of water use at 78 "municipios" were compiled from Commonwealth government of Puerto Rico agencies for 1980-82.The estimates include offstream and instream uses. Offstream uses include categories of public-water supply (domestic, commercial, and industrial users), rural (domestic and livestock), irrigation, thermoelectric power generation, and public waste-water treatment.Instream uses include only hydroelectric power and thermoelectric power seawater withdrawals.Results of the compilation show that the estimated total water use (surface-and ground-water sources) in Puerto Rico during 1980-82 were as follows:
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