Floods: Time For Some New Thinking?

Floods are becoming ever more prevalent due to global climate change. In Europe, 4 million people were impacted by flooding between 2010 and 2020, with nearly a thousand people losing their lives and five thousand losing their homes. 

The cost of flood damage from the 2013 flood in Central Europe was estimated to be approximately 18 billion euros. From 2006-2013, a mixture of 200 minor and major flood events cost an estimated 52 billion euros in damages.

These mammoth figures will only grow as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events, exacerbated by the increase in at-risk assets from increased socio-economic developments. Since the negative impacts of climate change are already being felt, it follows that governments must take urgent action to significantly reduce the impacts of impending floods. 

Raising awareness of flood risks is one of the easiest steps governments can take to reduce the impacts of flooding. Risk awareness can be defined as the extent of common knowledge people have of a risk, the factors causing the risk and actions that can be taken to reduce vulnerability to any hazards that may arise. It is widely believed that public awareness of natural hazards is necessary for risk management strategies to be effective.

Education about flood risk awareness is therefore essential; local governments should ensure they are providing sufficient information to their communities about how to prepare for and respond to floods, especially in high-risk areas. Such information should be made as simple as possible and repeated regularly, focusing on local issues. It is important to note that, whilst awareness of flooding is important, it may not be enough to make people act if they are not afraid of the risks. Positive correlations have been identified between levels of worry and awareness, especially if people have personal experience with flood events.   

As flooding of varying scales becomes a more common occurrence, is it imperative that governments alter flooding-related protocols. It is becoming increasingly obvious that complete protection from floods is impossible, so a more proactive approach is needed. Previous efforts of flood management have generally focused on controlling flood water as it arrives, draining it as quickly as possible, and separating water courses from infrastructure using structural measures such as barriers and levees.

A more proactive approach would not simply view each flood event as an engineering issue or emergency but would recognize that changes need to be made in planning and environmental policies. For example, there have been recent calls in Europe to treat flooding with a transboundary approach, since flooding does not respect regional or international borders. This will facilitate a sharing of knowledge, ensuring that the most effective strategies to minimize risk can be found.   

Other relatively quick and easy strategies that governments can implement to reduce the impacts of flooding include making sure that structures that could worsen floods if they fail are monitored regularly. This could include embankments that run alongside rivers and dams that hold water in reservoirs. Responses to floods, when they do occur, should also be monitored, as this will help authorities to plan and budget for future floods more effectively. Additionally, continued monitoring of high-risk areas before, during, and after floods will help to identify the causes and locations of floods, as well as the effectiveness of defenses and early warning systems.   

Legislation should also ensure that flood insurance is affordable in high-risk areas. This eases the burden on government relief funds and encourages home and business owners to protect their buildings as much as possible in exchange for lower premiums, whilst dramatically reducing the potential costs that floods could bring to their properties.

Conversely, higher premiums associated with little to no protection on buildings could deter people from buying and building homes in high-risk flood areas in the future. In areas where flooding is expected to become a frequent event, governments could offer optional buyouts to homeowners, potentially saving lives and large amounts in government aid payouts.