 Some floods develop slowly, while others can develop in just a few minutes and without visible signs of rain.Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, affecting entire river basins.The word "flood" comes from the Old English "flod", a word common to Germanic languages (compare German "Flut", Dutch "vloed" from the same root as is seen in "flow, float"; also compare with Latin "fluctus", "flumen").