Fllood management

Excerpted from Before the Deluge: Coping with Floods in a Changing ClimateA Flood of Damages Number of people the UN estimates will live in the path of a potential damaging flood by 2050: 2 billion Increase over today’s figures: 100% Annual number of “major floods” worldwide: 1950s to 1970s: 7-9 1980s: 20 1990s: 34 Number of damaging floods in Europe from 1989-2002: 100 Approximate number of people displaced: 500,000 Cost of damages: $30 billion Amount spent by US government on flood-control schemes (mainly dams and levees), 1960-85: $38 billion Average infla