Abstract
In this chapter, the notion of flood risk is interpreted and factors influencing flood risk: hazard, exposure, and vulnerability are examined. A holistic perspective on changing flood risk is provided. Economic losses from floods have greatly increased over last decades, principally driven by the growing exposure of assets at risk. It has not been found possible to attribute observed rain-generated peak streamflow trends to anthropogenic climate change, generally. Based on physical reasoning, increases in the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall should contribute to increase in risk of precipitation-generated local flooding (e.g., flash flooding and urban flooding) in many areas.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the FLORIST project (Flood risk on the northern foothills of the Tatra Mountains), based on a grant from the Swiss Government through the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union (PSPB No. 153/2010). Useful comments made on the draft of this paper by Professor Bartlomiej Wyzga are also gratefully acknowledged.
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Kundzewicz, Z.W., Stoffel, M. (2016). Anatomy of Flood Risk. In: Kundzewicz, Z., Stoffel, M., Niedźwiedź, T., Wyżga, B. (eds) Flood Risk in the Upper Vistula Basin. GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41923-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41923-7_3
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