deluge

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
deluge /ˈdɛljuːdʒ/

▶noun

• 1 a severe flood.

  ■ a very heavy fall of rain.

• 2 a great quantity of something arriving at the same time: a deluge of complaints.

▶verb

• 1 flood.

• 2 inundate; overwhelm.

– origin ME: from OFr., var. of diluve, from L. diluvium, from diluere ‘wash away’.