Floods are the most common natural disaster in Europe. In the recent years, Europe has witnessed some of the largest flooding events in its history.

Indeed, 8 out of the 20 most important floods ever recorded in Europe (in terms of human impacts) occurred during the last decade. Recent flooding events include last summer’s major floods in United Kingdom and the Elbe and Danube river floods during the summer of 2002. Over the last 20 years, flood in Europe have affected over 7 million people and killed 1931 others.