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[warriorbearman]

First of all hello everyone.
I have been playing DF for a few hours tonight for the first time and I'm loving it. But stupidly I decided to mine straight into an underground lake and now my fortress is going to be flooded. I paused it as my miner ran away and the water started to follow. Is there anything I can do to prevent a mass catastrophe!? Thanks.

[Inkster]

That lake doesn't look to big, it should spread out and dry up without much issue. Try installing a door into those 1-tile mines to prevent flooding into the main area, perhaps.

[andrewas]

That looks like its just a pool. Since its not sourced water it will spread out and evaporate unless it flows into a pit that keeps it from becoming shallow enough to evaporate.

If it is sourced water then its infinite and you'll need to contain it. Build a wall or place a door at the entrance to that tunnel, depending on whats closest. Enable masonry or carpentry on all dwarves and disable all other labors to increase the chances of one of them getting it done quickly.

[LuckyLuigi]

You can use the flooded area (which are now muddy) to build a farm plot underground.

That is usually the way I quickly set up some plump helmet production (as that can be eaten and used to make booze). If you use a floodgate and lever and don't empty the pool completely you can use it again and again when it fills up when it rains.

[warriorbearman]

ok thanks. i'll give it a shot. phew i thought all my dwarves would die... i dont think i will have enough time to build floodgate and lever though will i? the water is coming down that tunnel pretty fast

[LuckyLuigi]

No, you won't make it

And don't worry, your dwarves will die soon enough trough FUN! 

[Tharwen]

That looks like a surface lake. Go up one z-level and you should be able to see it draining from above.

Don't worry, people drain them all the time on purpose for irrigation and stuff like that. It shouldn't do anything except make your rooms a bit muddy.

[Number4]

Just let it flow into your fortress. This isn't enough water to drown your dorfs I think...and it's the dwarfy way!

BomrekMcExpeditionLeader: "We need floodgates, levers, a way to drain all of this water, a way to evacuate everyone in case of flooding and precautions if something nasty is in the water."

UristMcMiner: Fuck that. *mines tile*

[Newbunkle]

You don't actually need to irrigate soil layers anymore, but as everyone said, it's harmless. If it was a river you'd be in trouble, but that water will thin out pretty quickly. Just make sure to block the hole because some monsters might use it to get inside.

If you ever do flood your fortress though, you can always dig a new one nearby and rebuild with the survivors. You could always get your traumatised dwarves to commemorate the event by engraving your new fort. If enough dwarves drown I'm sure you'll get a few images of that.

[UristMcHuman]

Even a river can be controlled, provided you have taken the precautions, like this:

Urist McLeader: Be sure to make that tunnel able to be shut off in case it floods. Something nasty might be in there... *gulps*

Urist McMiner: Eeep... *gulps*

Urist McManager to Urist McMechanic: Get 3 mechanisms built ASAP.

Urist McMechanic: OK. *makes mechanisms*

Urist McManager to Urist McCarpenter: Get a floodgate built. Now.

Urist McCarpenter: Got it. *makes floodgate*

Urist McManager: Set it up, too.

Urist McCarpenter: OK. *puts floodgate up*

Urist McLeader: Get a lever up and connect that floodgate to it.

Urist McMechanic: Aye cap'n. (I was bored with the others)

Urist McLeader to Urist McMiner: OK, now you can dig open the river.

Urist McMiner: Alright. *digs upstair to get out, then digs open river*

Urist McLeader: Yay. And nobody died. Yet. *sees fish jump**gulps*

[Conrad]

I think it's been decided that that's not sourced water. However, in the event of these occurrences, it's best to throw down doors as soon as possible as near as you can manage. You might need to decide that some rooms aren't worth saving if you don't have time to throw down a door or wall or floodgate there.

Back in 40d, when underground rivers were common, I fudged an irrigation plan (on second thought, maybe it was an 'unfortunate accident' lever near the farms) and ended up with a flood creeping towards my fortress. I couldn't stop it in a conventional manner at the time because the farms, rooms and hallways between the flood and my base were far too wide. This is a tactic you might never need to use, but one that can come in handy. If you can go up a couple z levels and use a controlled cave-in to drop a wall into a corridor close to the leak, you can often stop a bad flood before it gets worse. This is one of the more plan-B sort of options, but it saved one of my first good forts.

[Broseph Stalin]

The group's dead on, you're going to get mud all over the place and it might take a while to evaporate but there's no way a pool that small is going to cause any real damage. If you do get a more serious one you want to have a door or floor hatch to quarantine the area until you can pump it out (looooooong time)

[warriorbearman]

ok thanks everyone. I managed to contain the flood by building a door between two of my farms. But now one farm is flooded, is there anyway I can get this farm back or should I just bhuild more?
Thanks again

[Naz]

Take a look at the water in that one farm. Any tiles of 1/7 depth will evaporate on their own after a little while. If a tile is 2/7 or deeper you'll need to let the water spread out a little more so it will dry up. From the look of your screenshot you can just throw open the doors to your farms and let the water spread through them til it dries and the only lasting effect you'll get is some mud and damp socks from dwarves walking through it. That being said, build a wall (b-C-w) where you breached that pond as soon as the water dries so nothing huge and nasty will wander into your farms.

[warriorbearman]

OK will do, and I dont suppose you could answer one quick question? Can my own dawrves fall into my traps? thanks