Seven hundred deaths, half a million people made homeless, over 25 billion euros in damages reimbursed by insurance companies, and incalculable economic losses for millions of victims: that is the tragic balance sheet of the floods in Europe in the period 1998-2004, a phenomenon ever more frequent and catastrophic in scale that has flailed the EU also during the year that has just ended. Given that “we will probably witness a growth in the risks of flooding and of the resulting economic damage in Europe in the decades to come”, the European Commission recently proposed a Directive with the aim of “helping member states to prevent and limit floods and their damaging consequences for human health, the environment, infrastructures and properties”. In close reciprocal cooperation thanks also to the coordination guaranteed at the EU level the competent national authorities will be called, in conformity with the Directive, to preliminarily evaluate flood risks, draw up flood risk maps and put in place “plans for flood risk management”. http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/water/flood_risk/index.htm
