Flood generation processes shape fatality and economic losses in Europe

Flood impacts are expected to exacerbate due to climate change and socio-economic development, and more efforts in adaptation measures are required to meet future challenges. Although it is believed that frequent exposure to flooding contributes to adaptation, it is still unclear whether or not we are well-adapted to flood events generated by the most common processes. Here we analyze counterfactual impact footprints of flood events generated by different processes in 971 European catchments for the period 1960—2010. We show that flood experiences of the most common processes do not guarantee better adaptation for them due to the failure to transform frequent flood experiences into effective targeted measures and the limitations of learning from experiences. Hence multiple flood characteristics generated by diverse processes still shape fatality and economic losses in Europe. Long rainfall on dry and wet soils and snowmelt are more impactful flood generation processes in the Atlantic and Central-Alpine, Mediterranean, and Northern regions.