Natural Hazards and Earth System Science www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net 1561-8633 1684-9981 9 1 2009 10.5194/nhess-9-97-2009 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/9/97/2009/ http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/9/97/2009/nhess-9-97-2009.html http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/9/97/2009/nhess-9-97-2009.pdf 97 104 2009-02-09 Normalised flood losses in Europe: 1970–2006 J. I. Barredo jose.barredo@jrc.it European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, TP-261, 21020 Ispra, Italy This paper presents an assessment of normalised flood losses in Europe for the period 1970–2006. Normalisation provides an estimate of the losses that would occur if the floods from the past take place under current societal conditions. Economic losses from floods are the result of both societal and climatological factors. Failing to adjust for time-variant socio-economic factors produces loss amounts that are not directly comparable over time, but rather show an ever-growing trend for purely socio-economic reasons. This study has used available information on flood losses from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) and the Natural Hazards Assessment Network (NATHAN). <br><br> Following the conceptual approach of previous studies, we normalised flood losses by considering the effects of changes in population, wealth, and inflation at the country level. Furthermore, we removed inter-country price differences by adjusting the losses for purchasing power parities (PPP). We assessed normalised flood losses in 31 European countries. These include the member states of the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. <br><br> Results show no detectable sign of human-induced climate change in normalised flood losses in Europe. 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