But the link between climate and flooding is not so clear, according to meteorologists Roger Pielke and Mary Downton of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Floods are one of the most destructive of natural disasters.
Yet the way in which flood damage has changed over this time is the subject of much confusion. The relationship between geological floods and social damage is subtle and complex, so meteorologists looking at the former and economists or politicians looking at the latter lack a common definition of 'flood'. Pielke and Downton now try to cut through the confusion. They point out that, despite big and unpredictable yearly fluctuations, flood damage in the USA expressed as financial cost has clearly been increasing in real terms since at least 1932. Certainly, climate scientists predict that rainfall will become heavier in many areas in a world warmed by the greenhouse effect.