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.