Megafloods Can Be Predicted With Continent-Wide Disaster Data
Analyzing flooding events on a continental scale, not just within a given country, can reveal where the next megaflood might strike, according to a new study.
Homes submerged by floodwater in the village of Farkadona following Storm Daniel, in Trikala region, Greece, on Sept. 7.
Photographer: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/BloombergMegafloods, or flood events more severe than any previously recorded in a given place, can be predicted by analyzing past flooding in other similar regions of the same continent, according to a study published this week in Nature Geoscience.
This type of extreme flooding is not uncommon — the study identified 510 such floods from 1999 to 2021 in Europe alone — and towns and cities are often not prepared for the catastrophic impacts. In July 2021, a megaflood among rivers in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg caused 200 fatalities and more than $40 billion in damage.