Floodings in Europe Affect Over 400,000 People in 2024: Report

Swathes of the continent were inundated during the year, with the worst hit Valencia in Spain, and central and eastern Europe, said the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

These disasters took place during the hottest year around the world, and underscore the threat that flooding poses for Europe, as the world warms because of human-driven climate change.

Storms and floods in 2024 killed more than 300 people, affected 413,000 others people across Europe, and inflicted at least 18 billion euros ($20.5 billion) in economic damage.

Some 30 percent of Europe's river network flooded in what was one of the continent's 10 wettest years since 1950, Copernicus said in a new report with the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

"Europe saw the most widespread flooding since 2013," Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which runs the Copernicus climate monitor, told journalists.

Up to three months worth of rain fell in just five days in September as Storm Boris brought immense flooding and widespread damage to eight countries in central and eastern Europe.

A month later, powerful storms whipped up by warm, moist air from the Mediterranean Sea dumped torrential rain over Spain, with subsequent floods devastating the eastern province of Valencia.

Source: HDN