Blog Posts: floods

As countries emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic over the coming year, world leaders will face a defining moment. By investing in disaster preparedness, they can set humanity on a safer course for the next decade and beyond.

Flood risk in the Mississippi River Basin is expected to threaten $4.2 billion in GDP annually by 2030, an $831 million increase from 2010. Levees alone won't fix the problem — and may even worsen it.

Climate change and population growth will expose more people to dangerous flooding. Investing in flood protection measures can reduce risk while helping economies rebound after COVID-19.

Monsoons have been stronger in northern India in recent years. Residents of one city are embracing a low-tech solution to control flooding: conserving farmland.

Chennai's four main reservoirs are virtually dry. This crisis is not only due to last year's poor monsoon season—lack of proper management is driving the city's water security problems.

Seaside communities from South Asia to the Caribbean have suffered terribly from flooding. Arivudai Nambi Appadurai, India Adaptation Strategy Head for the Climate Resilience Practice and WRI India, distills how they can adapt, with a focus on the dynamics of environmental justice and sustainable development.

Before the Flood explores how human activities, such as deforestation in Indonesia's Leuser ecosystem, are fueling global climate change. WRI Forest Legality Initiative Chip Barber reflects on his experience in the Leuser 30 years ago, and how the landscape has changed.

"Today, as negotiators haggle over the details of a climate agreement in Paris, my home town in southern India is literally underwater," says Arivudai Nambi Appadurai, WRI India's Adaptation Strategy Head for Climate Resilience Practice. "Chennai has seen 17 days straight of rain, precisely the kind of extreme weather event that experts say will only become more common in a warming world."

Forty bipartisan local elected officials delivered a powerful message at a recent summit: Coastal flooding is becoming more costly and dangerous for people, businesses and cities along America’s shorelines—and policy makers at all levels of government, as well as presidential candidates, need to pay attention.

New analysis shows that approximately 21 million people worldwide could be affected by river floods on average each year, with that number rising to 54 million in 2030 due to climate change and socio-economic development.