Environment Agency to EU: “Urgent action or flood costs will rise”

Brussels – Between 1980 and 2023, floods claimed the lives of 4,226 European Union citizens and cost an average of €7.8 billion per year. However, in 2021 this figure reached €48.2 billion, in 2023 €25.7 billion, and Italy alone in 2024 suffered damage worth €10 billion. Between 2008 and 2023, 320,000 people were displaced in Europe. The alarming data are from the European Environment Agency (EEA), which has prepared summary sheets on the main phenomena associated with global warming and climate change. 

With regard to floods, the EEA specifies that central and eastern European regions could experience up to 18 per cent more river flow due to extreme rainfall, while southern Europe could experience a reduction of 10-20 per cent in the medium term. Approximately 52 million people (12 per cent of the EU population) live in floodplains, while more than 300 million people (about 70 per cent of the population) live in urban environments where high levels of soil sealing, with materials such as concrete, increase the risk of flooding. 

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“Approximately 4 per cent of floodplains and 40 per cent of urban areas are covered by surfaces that do not absorb water,” denounces the AEA, which warns: ‘With increasing asphalt and concrete covering soils, the large number of people living in floodplains and urban areas become more vulnerable to flooding.” Not only: 11 per cent of hospitals, 10 per cent of schools, 15 per cent of industrial plants and 36 per cent of urban wastewater treatment plants in the EU are located in floodplains, at risk of flooding. 

“If decisive action is not taken now, the costs of coastal flooding alone could soar from €1 billion in 2020 to over €1 trillion per year in the EU by the end of the century,” the Agency warns. Because in addition to causing injuries, mental trauma and deaths (expected to increase), floods cause damage to property and infrastructure that “can be extensive, with houses, roads, bridges and services destroyed or severely impaired”: destruction that “disrupts daily life and can take years to repair.” In addition, floods can severely affect livelihoods and local economies, particularly in areas dependent on agriculture, tourism or small businesses, and the financial burden of recovery “can strain resources and hinder economic growth.”

 Therefore, according to the agency, “authorities must invest in effective flood management and preparedness strategies to mitigate these consequences.” This is no longer an option, but a necessity and a duty, as “extreme precipitation is expected to become more intense” and “this means that pluvial floods—i.e. surface water and flash floods—will also become more intense and frequent as precipitation intensity exceeds drainage systems’ capacities. 

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In recent years, “extreme precipitation and large-scale floods took place in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2021 (€44 billion damage and more than 200 deaths). In 2023, they happened in Slovenia (damage estimated at around 16% of national GDP) and Greece (submerging its key economic region).”

In 2024, floods hit Central and Eastern Europe with €4.2 billion of damage, while Italy recorded over €10 billion of damage, Spain €9.7 billion of damage and over 200 deaths. 

“It is expected that the coming decades are likely to see a higher flood risk in Europe and greater economic damage,” writes the EEA, which, however, reminds: “With the right measures, we can make it less likely that floods will happen and limit their impact. Flood risk management can happen alongside nature protection and restoration.”