List of floods in Europe

Last updated

This is a list of notable recorded floods that have occurred in Europe.

YearDetailsCountriesFatalitiesCauses
120 BCE Cymbrian flood Denmark, Norway probably many thousandsStorm tide
589 Breach at Cucca Italy
1170 All Saints' Flood (1170) Netherlands probably many thousandsStorm surge
1287 South England flood of February 1287 England probably many thousandsStorm surge
1287 St. Lucia's flood Netherlands, Northern Germany, England 50,000-80,000Storm surge
1304 All Saints' Flood (1304) Germany 271Storm surge
1342 St. Mary Magdalene's flood Germany, Austria, Italy 6,000heavy rain
1362(1st) Grote Mandrenke England, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Schleswig >25,000Storm surge
1404 St. Elizabeth's flood (1404) Netherlands Storm surge
1421 St. Elizabeth's flood (1421) Netherlands 2,000-10,000Storm surge
1436 All Saints Day Flood of 1436 Germany >180Storm surge
1530 St. Felix's Flood Netherlands many thousandsStorm surge
1570 All Saints' Flood (1570) Netherlands >20,000Storm surge
1609 Bristol Channel floods, 1607 England 3,000disputed - possible tsunami
1634 Burchardi Flood Germany 8,000-15,000Storm surge
1651 St. Peter's Flood Netherlands, Northern Germany 15,000Storm surge
1703 Great Storm of 1703 United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany 8,000-15,000Storm surge
1717 Christmas flood of 1717 Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway 14,000Storm surge
1738 Holmfirth Floods (1738) England 0Heavy rain
1777 Holmfirth Floods (1777) England 3Heavy rain
1789 Storofsen [1] Norway, Denmark63heavy rains and snowmelting
1821 Holmfirth Floods (1821) England 0Heavy rain
1824Saint Petersburg (1824) Russia 10,000Flood
1825 February flood of 1825 Germany, Netherlands 800Storm surge
1829 Muckle Spate (1829) Scotland Heavy rain
1852 Holmfirth Floods#1852 England 81Heavy rain
1859 Grenoble flood 1859 France Rain + meltwater
1864 Great Sheffield Flood United Kingdom 270failure of the Dale Dike Reservoir
1865 1865 flooding of Bucharest Romania UnknownHeavy rain
1872 1872 Baltic Sea flood Denmark, Germany, Norway 271Storm surge
1878 Flood in Miskolc, 1878 Hungary 400Heavy rain
1879 Segura flood Spain  ? ?
1892 Mont Blanc glacier flood France 175subterranean glacial lake burst
1910 1910 Great Flood of Paris France0heavy rain and meltwater
1910 1910 European Floods Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Switzerland 1,200Heavy rain
1928 1928 Thames flood England 14meltwater + heavy rain + storm surge
1934 1934 flood in Poland Poland55heavy rain
1944 Holmfirth Floods#1944 England 3Heavy rain
1947 1947 Thames flood England, Spain, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia [2] meltwater + heavy rain
1952 Lynmouth Flood United Kingdom 34heavy rain
1953 North Sea Flood of 1953 Netherlands, United Kingdom 2,551Storm surge
1957 1957 Valencia flood Spain 81heavy rains and Turia flood
1959 Malpasset Dam France 423Dam failure
1962 North Sea flood of 1962 Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany 318Storm surge
1962 1962 Vallés floods Spain 700Heavy rain
1963 Vajont disaster Italy1,917a landslide caused a seiche wave and a megatsunami
1963Guadalquivir flood in Cordoba and SevillaSpain ?
1964 1964 Zagreb flood Yugoslavia17Heavy rain
1965Danube floods in 1965Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia 10heavy rains, Alps snowmelting and dike failure at Číčov
1966 1966 Flood of the Arno River Italy35heavy rains and snowmelting
1967 1967 Portugal floods PortugalThe official death toll was 495 deaths. Unofficial estimates are of at least 700 deaths.heavy rains
1968 Great Flood of 1968 United Kingdom, France0heavy rains and thunderstorms
1970 1970 floods in Romania Romania 209heavy rains and snowmelting
1976 Gale of January 1976 Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Germany 82Storm surge
1978 1978 North Sea storm surge England 1Storm surge
1981 December 1981 windstorm England, Wales, France Storm surge + meltwater
1985 Val di Stava dam collapse Italy268the reservoir breached its dam.
1987 Valtellina disaster Italy53heavy rain
1994Piedmont floodItaly77heavy rain for three days lead to extreme discharge of tributaries of Po river
1997 1997 Central European flood Czech Republic, Poland114extensive rain periods
1998 Jarovnice flood Slovakia63heavy rainfall plus collapse of dam formed by debris
1999 1999 Pentecost flood Austria, Germanyheavy rainfall plus Alpine meltwater
1999 1999 Blayais Nuclear Power Plant flood France 0Storm tide
2000 Autumn 2000 western Europe floods United Kingdom, Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia20heavy rains
2002 2002 European floods Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia 232heavy rains
2002 2002 Glasgow floods United Kingdom0heavy rains
2004 Boscastle flood of 2004 United Kingdom0heavy rains
2005 2005 European floods Romania, Switzerland, Austria and GermanyRecord rain
2006 2006 European floods Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary0poorly constructed dikes and levees and an unusual long and hard winter
2007 North Sea flood of 2007 Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom0storm tide
2007 2007 United Kingdom floods United Kingdom13heavy rain
2008 2008 Irish flash floods Ireland 1Heavy rain
2008 2008 Morpeth floods United Kingdom 0heavy rain
2009 2009 Great Britain and Ireland floods United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland4heavy rains
2009 2009 European floods Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey33heavy rains
2009 2009 Workington floods United Kingdom 1heavy rain
2009 2009 Messina floods and mudslides Italy 31Heavy rain
2009 2009 Turkish flash floods Turkey 31Heavy rain
2010 2010 Central European floods Poland, Hungary37Heavy rain
2010 2010 Slovenia floods Slovenia 3Heavy rain
2010 2010 Var floods France25Heavy rain
2010 2010 Albania floods Albania 0Heavy rain
2011 2011 European floods Ireland, Italy, France17Heavy rain
2011 Cyclone Berit England 4Storm surge
2012 2012 Russian floods Russia 171Heavy rain
2012 2012 Great Britain and Ireland floods United Kingdom, Ireland 9Heavy rain
2012 2012 Romanian floods Romania 5Heavy rain
2013 2013 European floods Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Belarus, Poland, Hungary 25Heavy rain
20132013 floods in Rhodes, Greece Greece 3Heavy rain
2014 2014 Southeast Europe floods Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Romania 86Heavy rain
2014 2014 Bulgarian floods Bulgaria 16Heavy rain
2016 2016 European floods Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Moldova, Romania 21Heavy rain
2016 2016 Macedonian floods Republic of Macedonia 21Heavy rain
20162016 Italian floodNorthwestern Italy1Heavy rain
2017 2017 West Attica floods Greece 24Heavy rain
2018 2018 European floods Spain, France, Italy 69Heavy rain
2019 2019 Yorkshire Dales flooding United Kingdom 0Heavy rain
2019 2019–2020 United Kingdom floods United Kingdom 11Heavy rain
20202020 floods in Evia, Greece Greece 8Heavy rain
2020 Storm Gloria Spain, France 14Heavy rain, storm surge
2020 Storm Dennis United Kingdom 7Heavy rain
2020 2020 Western Ukraine floods Ukraine 4Heavy rain
2021 2021 Evros floods Greece, Turkey 1Heavy rain
2021 2021 European floods Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, United Kingdom 243Heavy rain
2021 2021 Turkish floods Turkey 97Heavy rain
2021 2021 floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina 0Heavy rain
2023 2023 Emilia-Romagna floods Emilia-Romagna, Italy 17Heavy rains caused by Storm Minerva
2023 2023 Carinthia and Slovenia floods Slovenia 7Heavy rains
20232023 Danube floods Hungary 12Heavy rains
2024 2024 Germany floods Germany 9Heavy rains
2024 2024 Central European floods Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary and Romania 27Heavy rains
2024 2024 floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina 27Heavy rain
2024 2024 floods in Spain Spain 226Heavy rain

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah</span> Revered figure in Abrahamic traditions

Noah appears as the last of the Antediluvian patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible, the Quran and Baha'i writings, and extracanonically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flood</span> Water overflow submerging usually-dry land

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civil engineering and public health. Human changes to the environment often increase the intensity and frequency of flooding. Examples for human changes are land use changes such as deforestation and removal of wetlands, changes in waterway course or flood controls such as with levees. Global environmental issues also influence causes of floods, namely climate change which causes an intensification of the water cycle and sea level rise. For example, climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and stronger. This leads to more intense floods and increased flood risk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floodplain</span> Land adjacent to a water body which is flooded during periods of high water

A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high discharge. The soils usually consist of clays, silts, sands, and gravels deposited during floods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser River</span> River in British Columbia, Canada

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 kilometres (854 mi), into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual discharge at its mouth is 112 cubic kilometres (27 cu mi) or 3,550 cubic metres per second (125,000 cu ft/s), and each year it discharges about 20 million tons of sediment into the ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydroelectricity</span> Electricity generated by hydropower

Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower. Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. However, when constructed in lowland rainforest areas, where part of the forest is inundated, substantial amounts of greenhouse gases may be emitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint John River (Bay of Fundy)</span> River defining parts of the border of Maine and New Brunswick

The Saint John River is a 673-kilometre-long (418 mi) river flowing within the Dawnland region from headwaters in the Notre Dame Mountains near the Maine-Quebec border through western New Brunswick to the northwest shore of the Bay of Fundy. Eastern Canada's longest river, its drainage basin is one of the largest on the east coast at about 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi). This “River of the Good Wave” and its tributary drainage basin formed the territorial countries of the Wolastoqiyik and Passamaquoddy First Nations prior to European colonization, and it remains a cultural centre of the Wabanaki Confederacy to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flood myth</span> Motif in which a great flood destroys civilization

A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primeval waters which appear in certain creation myths, as the flood waters are described as a measure for the cleansing of humanity, in preparation for rebirth. Most flood myths also contain a culture hero, who "represents the human craving for life".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lachlan River</span> Intermittent river in New South Wales, Australia

The Lachlan River is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Sea flood of 1953</span> Late January-early February 1953 North sea flood storm

The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed, resulting in extensive flooding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 European floods</span> Major European floods in August 2002

In August 2002, a week of intense rainfall produced flooding across a large portion of Europe. It reached the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine and Russia. The event killed 232 people and left €27.7 billion (US$27.115 billion) in damage. The flood was of a magnitude expected to occur roughly once a century. Flood heights unknown since St. Mary Magdalene's flood were recorded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Sea flood of 1962</span> Natural disaster affecting mainly the coastal regions of Germany

The North Sea flood of 1962 was a natural disaster affecting mainly the coastal regions of West Germany and in particular the city of Hamburg in the night from 16 February to 17 February 1962. In total, the homes of about 60,000 people were destroyed, and the death toll amounted to 315 in Hamburg. The extratropical cyclone responsible for the flooding had previously crossed the United Kingdom as the Great Sheffield Gale, devastating the city of Sheffield and killing nine people.

Rigvedic deities are deities mentioned in the sacred texts of Rigveda, the principal text of the historical Vedic religion of the Vedic period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European windstorm</span> Strongest type of extratropical cyclone that occurs over Europe

European windstorms are powerful extratropical cyclones which form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure. They can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent between October and March, with peak intensity in the winter months. Deep areas of low pressure are common over the North Atlantic, and occasionally start as nor'easters off the New England coast. They frequently track across the North Atlantic Ocean towards the north of Scotland and into the Norwegian Sea, which generally minimizes the impact to inland areas; however, if the track is further south, it may cause adverse weather conditions across Central Europe, Northern Europe and especially Western Europe. The countries most commonly affected include the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilsons River (New South Wales)</span> River in New South Wales, Australia

Wilsons River, a perennial river and part of the Richmond River catchment, is situated in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vistula</span> Major river in Central Europe

The Vistula is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at 1,047 kilometres in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers 193,960 km2 (74,890 sq mi), of which 168,868 km2 (65,200 sq mi) is in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclone Xaver</span> Winter storm that affected northern Europe in 2013

Cyclone Xaver, also known as the North Sea flood or tidal surge of 2013, was a winter storm that affected northern Europe. Force 12 winds and heavy snowfall were predicted along the storm's path, and there were warnings of a significant risk of storm surge leading to coastal flooding along the coasts of the North and Irish Seas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 European floods</span> July 2021 flooding in Europe

In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage. The floods started in the United Kingdom as flash floods causing some property damage and inconvenience. Later floods affected several river basins across Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. At least 243 people died in the floods, including 196 in Germany, 43 in Belgium, two in Romania, one in Italy and one in Austria.

References

  1. Magnus A. Mardal: Storofsen (in Norwegian) Store norske leksikon , retrieved 2 June 2013.
  2. 1947 U.K. River Floods: 60-Year Retrospective , RMS Special Report, Risk Management Solutions, 2007.