The impact of the falling rain is received chiefly by the plants and the roots bind the soil particles together and make them resistant to the on rush of the water. Sheet erosion reshapes the land by washing large quantities of soil and loose rock fragments down slopes and eventually into streams. Even greater damage occurs during floods. Flooding is brought about when rain falls in such large amounts and so fast that it cannot be absorbed by the ground. When this happens, immense quantities of water pour down along the ground.
Floods also occur when sudden rises in temperature during the spring quickly melt ice and snow.
There have been cases when torrential rain produces floods of mud. Many people have actually drowned in the awful torrent of mud. There have also been cases where rain has produced landslides in which large masses of earth and rock slide bodily downhill. It does this by causing the disintegration of soil and adding to its eight. It penetrates into crevices and cracks in rocks causing the rock to be broken up and begin sliding downward.