In light of the UK floods, this 3-minute Q&A with OECD Environmental Economist Kathleen Dominique discusses how governments should be preparing for climate change-related weather events.

“If He holds back the waters, there is drought; if He lets them loose, they devastate the land”. To be fair, that was in the days before governments played “a key role in developing targeted policy responses to market failures that impede the mitigation and allocation of drought and flood risks”, as the OECD report on Mitigating Droughts and Floods in Agriculture puts it.

A hacking group has started to flood a dark web hacking marketplace with databases containing a combined total of 73.2 million user records over 11 different companies. [...]

The European Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks1 (the Floods Directive) represents a shift towards holistic and catchment-oriented management of flood risk and is likely to prompt changes to policy in many Member States. New research from Germany suggests that effective implementation of the Floods Directive is likely to be greatly aided by the participation of stakeholders and communication between groups.

Improved understanding of flash flooding could be achieved through post-flood observations, re-examination of weather radar data and the use of combined weather and hydrological modelling, according to the recent HYDRATE research project. This information can be used to improve flash flood forecasting.

Research from Slovakia suggests that the total area of change in land cover, as well as land management practices, are more important in generating floods than the type of land cover change, such as deforestation.

Droughts and floods can significantly damage economic growth, recent research has found. A 1% increase in the area affected by drought can slow a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 2.7% per year and a 1% increase in the area experiencing extreme rainfall can reduce GDP growth by 1.8%, according to the study. Investments in water security could help reduce this negative economic impact, say the researchers.

Loss of satellites providing rainfall data could have a negative effect on global flood management, according to new research. However, this could be mitigated by improved international co-operation and the use of more modern satellite technology, the authors say. The study examined the consequences for flood management of the loss of four of the existing 10 dedicated rainfall measuring satellites.

Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and severity of flooding. This study reviewed damage mitigating measures at local, regional and national scales, and suggests that approaches including both spatial planning and private precautionary measures (such as building adaptations) are important for integrated risk management.

A new framework has been developed to assess how effective Flood Emergency Management Systems (FEMS) are in Europe. Examining FEMS in five European countries, this study highlights the strengths and weaknesses of existing systems and makes recommendations for improving their effectiveness, particularly in relation to institutional learning, community preparedness and recovery.

The frequency and severity of flooding is expected to increase in the future. This study explored how these changes will affect rivers, in terms of structure as well as animal and plant life. The authors discuss the management implications of their findings and highlight areas for future research, including developing early warning systems for threats to ecosystems.

New research has shown that flooding of soils contaminated with arsenic, which may occur as sea levels rise due to climate change, could lead to the mobilisation of this toxic element in the environment. The study shows that arsenic is more stable in soil flooded with saltwater, compared to river water, as salt stabilises mineral oxides and could inhibit microbial activity. However, microbes that transform arsenic into water-soluble forms may adapt to saline conditions, and the risk of arsenic entering waters due to rising sea levels should receive further attention.

In flood-prone Gloucestershire, England, dam-building semiaquatic Eurasian beavers make good neighbors.

Floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States. Here's a closer look at how they occur and how to stay safe.

The receding flood waters are typically tainted with sewage and other toxins. It may contain a number of harmful microorganisms such as mycoplasma, bacteria, protozoa, molds and the remains of biological and a-biological pollutants.

Sharing the reasons for the slowdown in the shoe industry, shoe manufacturer Pradeep Kumar said: "The main cause is the flood that most part of the country is facing. Due to sluggish sales, we are also short of funds."

Residents in a small Queensland town are still counting their blessings 12 months after a bushfire destroyed more than 12,000 hectares of pasture, and now they are preparing to be in drought before the decade is out.

As a maintenance man, Peter Crawford knows better than most that one of the hazards of underground living is the question of who might drop in.

Today the Macleay Valley is suffering unprecedented drought, but 70 years ago it was inundated with "mighty waves as high as telegraph poles" that flooded the region and left 2,000 people homeless.

Northern pastoralists are upbeat after the Fitzroy Crossing Bull Sale recorded strong results, despite a year of extreme weather.

These farmers have an unusual complaint. As drought takes its toll on the rest of the nation, they just cannot keep water off their land and it's forcing them to halve their stock numbers.

This is Phil Gregurke. He is havingtotravel 200kmjust topickup acartonofbeerand some toiletpaper for his pub on the Birdsville Track.

Farms across North Queensland have suffered stock and crop losses of up to 50 per cent in the wake of unprecedented flooding.

North Queenslanders plead with the government to help them eradicate an increasing number of wild pigs, which are threatening the environment and putting road users at serious risk.

This floodplain is a hotbed for ecology - but big floods may have drowned too many rats

The break took place near Driggs Ave. and N. 7th St. in Williamsburg about 4:30 a.m., officials said. The problem was fixed and the bulk of the flooding cleared up by 7 a.m. — not early enough to avoid rush hour disruptions in subway service.

No secret that this country has been experiencing rainfall of biblical proportions and that this has caused very widespread flooding of roads and towns, with consequent misery for everyone affected, many of whom are not even insured.

Properties have been flooded after thunderstorms hit parts of south and west Wales on Saturday.

Heavy rains, flash flooding and landslides have led to the deaths of more than 70 people in Rwanda, officials said Friday.

Australia's World Cup qualifier against Thailand next week has been moved to another stadium in Bangkok because of flooding in the city, Football Federation Australia said.

Disaster relief funding for punishing spring floods is welcome news to civic leaders in northern Alberta.

An update about the flood damage in Eastern Australia

Severe flooding is affecting families and communities across Bangladesh's districts. Families who are already poor have lost everything and are in desperate need of emergency assistance and hope.

At least 200 people have been killed in Kenya and 10,000 people displaced.

[Nation] Some 50,000 people have been displaced by floods in four counties in western Kenya, the largest number in the past six decades.

[Shabelle] At least 16 people have died while more than 200,000 others have been affected by torrential rains and riverine floods since the Gu (April-June) rains started in Somalia a month ago, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

Well-wishers are distributing relief supplies to victims.

East Africa's "triple threat" — the coronavirus, locusts, and floods — are not mutually exclusive. In fact, each is inextricably linked.

ADB’s Transport Sector Flood Recovery Project helped reinstate bridge approach roads, culverts, and stream crossings and rebuilt three elevated bridges, reestablishing a seamless east–west road link on Guadalcanal and within Honiara. All works incorporated climate- and disaster-proof design.

Waters lap perilously close to audience as grand capes and latex trench coats are modelled

How to make the fashion industry engage with the climate crisis? Flood the venue, and submerge the front row.

Arriving at the Balenciaga show in Paris on Sunday morning, the audience found themselves entering at the periphery of what looked like a sports stadium, with banks of flip-up plastic seats around a central oval. In pitch blackness, it was hard to tell exactly, but attendants were on hand with torches, and strict instructions not to proceed beyond the third row.

Since July, floods have ravaged Thailand, causing $3 billion in damage and killing nearly 300 people. But as the waters approach the capital city, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says he is confident

Take a look at this built prototype of a flood-resistant house, designed to float with the rising waters.

When heavy rains caused rivers to overflow and flood parts of Pakistan last year, it set into motion a surprisingly complex chain of events that scientists are only now beginning to understand -- and which may have

If you thought the flooding in the northeast in the wake of Hurricane Irene and subsequent storms dropping heavy rain, thank your lucky stars you're not in Pakistan. In a repeat of last summer, the nation is again in the grips of catastrophic flooding,

It sounds like a plot-line from a bad 1950's sci-fi movie, but unfortunately there's nothing fiction about it. Several towns in western Hungary were flooded today with a toxic red sludge after the waste product from

While the immense amount of rain and devastating floods that hit Colorado nearly two weeks ago were already tragic , they have also exposed a concern regarding the lax environmental regulations that allow the oil and gas industry to drill in flood zones.

The floods that submerged one-fifth of Pakistan's territory took more than six months to recede.

One of the most affected regions was the Sindh region, located in the western corner of South Asia. 

At their peak, the floodwaters were up to 20 feet deep. About 20 million people were displaced.

But apparently, people were not the only ones seeking shelter from the devastating floods. 

One of the unexpected side-effects of the flooding has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising floodwaters, turning them into futuristic-looking trees cocooned in spiders' webs.

The people living in that area claimed they have never seen this phenomenon before but were glad to discover that those cocooned trees were actually significantly reducing the numbers of mosquitos and thereby, the risk of malaria. 

It is thought that the mosquitoes were getting caught in the spiders' webs which would be one blessing for the people of the area, facing so many other hardships after the floods. 

Check out some of the stunning photos, released by the department of international development.

And when it comes to adapting to climate change, knowledge is power, which is why a new programme to gather continent-wide information on water could be a game-changer.