Increasing urbanisation and climate change are making floods increasingly difficult to control, resulting in severe damage to infrastructure.
Floods are the most common natural disasters worldwide. They cause the most casualties and the greatest economic damage.

In general, floods are caused by heavy rainfall or by rainfall combined with snowmelt. Human error and mismanagement can not only exacerbate flooding, but can even be responsible for causing it. This includes misguided urbanisation, sudden dam failure or deforestation of a river’s catchment area.

However, appropriate adaptation measures and integrated flood management can prevent most of the foreseeable damage. Flooding is a natural phenomenon, but by choosing the right measures, its impact on residents and the environment can be significantly limited.