Floods News

December 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Dec. 12, 2024 — Climate and land use change have and will continue to alter streamflow regimes and water quality through the 21st century, with consequences for drinking water treatment costs, flood protection, and other ecosystem services, according to the new ...

What Triggered Nepal's Catastrophic 2021 Flood -- And Could It Happen Again?

Dec. 4, 2024 — Heavy monsoon rainfall, excessive snowmelt and unstable terrain combined to cause the 2021 Melamchi Valley flood disaster in Nepal, according to new research. The findings highlight how a mix of ...

Floods, Insufficient Water, Sinking River Deltas: Hydrologists Map Changing River Landscapes Across the Globe

Dec. 12, 2024 — A new study has mapped 35 years of river changes on a global scale. The work has revealed significant effects on both downstream (44% decrease in water flow) and upstream (17% flow increase) rivers, ...

Flood Disasters Associated With Preterm Births and Low Birth Weights

Dec. 10, 2024 — A new analysis of more than 3,000 studies from around the world reveals that globally, flooding increases preterm births by about 3%. Children who were in utero during a flood event are also more likely to have a low birth weight. Both these ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:24pm EST

Scientists Urged to Pull the Plug on 'Bathtub Modeling' of Flood Risk

Dec. 6, 2024 — Recent decades have seen a rapid surge in damages and disruptions caused by flooding. Experts call on scientists to more accurately model these risks and caution against overly dramatized reporting ...

Mangroves Save $855 Billion in Flood Protection Globally, New Study Shows

Dec. 5, 2024 — Mangroves have been shown to provide $855 billion in flood protection services worldwide, according to a new ...

Swelling Streams -- Climate Change Causes More Sediment in High-Mountain Rivers

Dec. 4, 2024 — Many high-mountain rivers in Asia transport more sediment downstream compared to a few years ago. Changes in sediment levels have a particularly ...

New AI Tool Generates Realistic Satellite Images of Future Flooding

Nov. 25, 2024 — With help from AI, scientists developed a method that generates satellite imagery from the future to depict how a region would look after a potential flooding ...

Climate-Driven Hazards Increases Risk for Millions of Coastal Residents, Study Finds

Nov. 21, 2024 — A new study estimates that a 1-meter sea level rise by 2100 would affect over 14 million people and $1 trillion worth of property along the Southeast ...

Design and Imagination as Essential Tools During the Climate Crisis

Nov. 21, 2024 — Researchers advocate the use of imagination in tackling the climate crisis. They focus specifically on urbanizing river deltas, which are of great social and economic importance and highly vulnerable ...

Artificial Intelligence Can Be Used to Predict River Discharge and Warn of Potential Flooding

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers have created a method that uses artificial intelligence to more accurately predict short-term river discharge using historical data from ...

How Flood Risk Affects Home Values

Nov. 19, 2024 — Houses for sale in a flood zone are around 10% cheaper than surrounding areas, according to new research. However, the reduced price tag is not worth the extra risk and can burden buyers with ...

Some of the World's Least Polluting Populations Are at Much Greater Risk of Flooding Fueled by Climate Change

Nov. 7, 2024 — A new study has exposed for the first time how inhabitants of the smallest countries globally, contributing least to climate change, already bear the ...

Coastal Flooding During Hurricanes Helene and Milton Tracked

Oct. 29, 2024 — A web-based application that gathers crowdsourced data to identify flooding and inform policy in coastal communities provided scientists with essential data from hurricanes Helene and Milton. The app ...

Companies and Investors Can Now Get Smarter When It Comes to Nature

Oct. 28, 2024 — Amid growing pressure to report on nature-related risks and impacts, an open-source footprinting tool offers a scientific and transparent ...

Marshes Provide Cost-Effective Coastal Protection

Oct. 23, 2024 — Protecting and enhancing salt marshes in front of protective seawalls can significantly help protect some coastlines, at a cost that makes this approach reasonable to ...

A 'Worrying Confluence' of Flood Risk, Social Vulnerability and Climate Change Denial

Oct. 23, 2024 — In certain parts of the United States, especially Appalachia, New England and the Northwest, the ability of residents to prepare for and respond to flooding is being undercut on three different ...

AI-Trained CCTV in Rivers Can Spot Blockages and Reduce Floods

Oct. 9, 2024 — Smart CCTV systems trained to spot blockages in urban waterways could become an important future tool in flood prevention, new research has ...

Where Flood Policy Helps Most -- And Where It Could Do More

Sep. 30, 2024 — A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program provides important flood insurance relief, researchers say. But due to its design, it's used more in communities with greater means to ...

Breakthrough Study Predicts Catastrophic River Shifts That Threaten Millions Worldwide

Sep. 19, 2024 — Researchers have uncovered key insights into the dangerous phenomenon of 'river avulsion,' offering a way to predict when and where rivers may suddenly and dramatically change ...

Over Two-Million Acres of Floodplain Development Occurred in U.S. in Last Two Decades, Study Finds

Sep. 13, 2024 — A nationwide analysis of community-level floodplain development found that over two-million acres of floodplain were developed over the past two decades across the United States, with roughly half of ...

Dams Built to Prevent Coastal Flooding Can Worsen It

Sep. 13, 2024 — The common practice of building dams to prevent flooding can actually contribute to more intense coastal flood events, according to a new study. By analyzing data and measurements from Charleston ...

Summer Storms Are Stronger and More Frequent Over Urban Areas

Sep. 10, 2024 — Summer storms are generally more frequent, intense and concentrated over cities than over rural areas, according to new, detailed observations of eight cities and their surroundings. The results ...

Deserts' Biggest Threat? Flooding

Sep. 9, 2024 — A new study has found that the increase in soil erosion in coastal areas due to desertification is worsening flood impacts on Middle Eastern and North African port cities. The researchers focused ...

Traditional Infrastructure Design Often Makes Extreme Flooding Events Worse

Sep. 4, 2024 — Much of the nation's stormwater infrastructure, designed decades to a century ago to prevent floods, can exacerbate flooding during the severe weather events that are increasing around the ...

New Model to Enhance Extreme Rainfall Prediction

Aug. 29, 2024 — Scientists have developed new guidance and tools that could significantly improve the prediction of life-threatening flash ...

Engineers Develop AI System for Real-Time Sensing of Flooded Roads

Aug. 28, 2024 — Roadway-related incidents are a leading cause of flood fatalities nationwide, but limited flood-reporting tools make it difficult to evaluate road conditions in real ...

Coastal Cities Must Adapt Faster to Climate Change

Aug. 27, 2024 — Coastal cities play a key role in the global economy and have important functions for society at large. At the same time, they are severely affected by the impact of climate change. That is why their ...

Research Shows Reducing Future Global Flooding Hinges on Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Aug. 21, 2024 — Pioneering research forecasts worldwide flooding is likely to be significantly worse in future decades if countries fail to meet official pledges to cut carbon ...

Urban Street Networks, Building Density Shape Severity of Floods

Aug. 19, 2024 — The design of streets and layout of buildings have an impact on a city's resilience in the face of increasingly severe floods brought on by climate change. Researchers look at buildings and ...

Combined Effects of Plastic Pollution and Seawater Flooding Amplify Threats to Coastal Plant Species

Aug. 2, 2024 — A new study highlights how a combination of environmental stressors -- namely plastic pollution and seawater flooding -- can increase the threats faced by plants in some of the planet's critical ...

Barriers Designed to Prevent Saltwater Intrusion May Worsen Inland Flooding

July 31, 2024 — Building protection barriers without accounting for potential inland flooding risks from groundwater can eventually worsen the very issues they aim to ...

Bold Moves Needed for California Agriculture to Adapt to Climate Change

July 29, 2024 — California needs urgent and bold measures to adapt its $59 billion agriculture sector to climate change as the amount of water available for crops declines, according to a new report. The report ...

Nationwide Flood Models Poorly Capture Risks to Households and Properties, Study Finds

July 24, 2024 — Government agencies, insurance companies and disaster planners rely on national flood risk models from the private sector that aren't reliable at smaller levels such as neighborhoods and ...