导航|地址|刷新
Floods

Skip to main content

Weather

Climate

Water

Select your languageEnglishعربي中文FrançaisРусскийEspañol

عربي

中文

 English

Français

Русский

Español

Search

Menu
Close menu

About
Overview
Our Mandate

History of IMO and WMO

Governance
Members

Regional Associations

The Secretariat
Internal Oversight Office

Finance and Accountability

Regional Coordination Office

Liaison Offices

WMO Commons

WMO Awards and Prizes

What we do
Core activities

Projects

Youth Engagement

Gender

Themes

News & Events
News Portal
Press Releases

Information for Journalists

Events
World Meteorological Day

WMO 2027 Calendar Competition

Resources
Publications

WMO Bulletin

MeteoWorld

Library

Dashboards

Linguistic Resources

Community

About

What we do

Themes

News & Events

Resources

Community

Overview
Our Mandate

History of IMO and WMO

Governance
Members

Regional Associations

The Secretariat
Internal Oversight Office

Finance and Accountability

Regional Coordination Office

Liaison Offices

WMO Commons

WMO Awards and Prizes

Core activities

Projects

Youth Engagement

Gender

News Portal
Press Releases

Information for Journalists

Events
World Meteorological Day

WMO 2027 Calendar Competition

Publications

WMO Bulletin

MeteoWorld

Library

Dashboards

Linguistic Resources

Search
Close the search form

Breadcrumb

…

Home

Themes

Floods

Floods

Natural hazards

Floods are the deadliest natural hazards, striking numerous regions in the world each year.

Increasing population pressure, degradation of ecosystem and natural climate variability and change contribute to a further increase in flood risks worldwide.

Overview

Floods are part of the natural variability in flow rates and water levels of rivers. This means that flood management plays an important role in protecting people and incorporating flood risks into the management of water resources provides a rationale to shift towards an integrated flood management approach.

During the last decades the trend in flood damages has been growing exponentially. This is a consequence of the increasing frequency of heavy precipitation, changes in upstream land-use and a continuously increasing concentration of population and assets in flood-prone areas. This is often exacerbated by inadequate flood planning and management practices.

Sea level rise has increased vulnerability to storm surge and related coastal flooding, as well.

Impact

Floods can cause widespread devastation, resulting in loss of life and damage to personal property and critical public health infrastructure. Between 1998-2017, floods affected more than 2 billion people worldwide. (Source: https://www.preventionweb.net/files/61119_credeconomiclosses.pdf)

Flood impacts are exacerbated by land-use changes and increased population pressure on flood-prone areas.

WMO's response

Through the Flood Forecasting Initiative, WMO helps to improve the capacities of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to jointly deliver timely and more accurate products and services for flood forecasting and warning, in collaboration with disaster managers active in flood emergency preparedness and response.

WMO, together with the Global Water Partnership has established the joint initiative of the Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM). It promotes the concept of Integrated Flood Management (IFM) to maximize net benefits from the use of floodplains and minimize the loss of life and impacts. As such, it provides tools and publications to support flood management. To address the issues associated with flash floods, especially the lack of capacity to develop effective flash flood warnings, the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) was designed and developed for interactive use by meteorological and hydrological forecasters. WMO, jointly with the U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service (NOAA) and the Hydrologic Research Center (HRC), is implementing this system throughout the world.

The APFM and the FFGS are just two of the elements that contribute to the WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative, which also oversees activities related to the WMO Long-Term Ambition “No one is surprised by a flood” such as building capacities on technical aspects related to end-to-end flood forecasting and early warning.

Related activities

Activity

Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM)

Floods are the most common natural hazards with the largest impacts on society. Although exceptionally devastating floods distort the trend, flood impact records show that the number of related fatalities is gradually decreasing thanks to, among others, better early warning systems; however, damages to land and property appear to be increasing due to insufficient prevention, economic growth and a lack of flood-sensitive land use planning. The Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM) promotes an Integrated Flood Management approach to minimize related loss of life and impacts on livelihoods through protective measures while maximizing the net benefits derived from the efficient use of floodplains.

Activity

Flash Flood Guidance System with Global Coverage (FFGS)

The Flash Flood Guidance System with Global Coverage (FFGS) is a guidance tool in the cycle of an end-to-end early warning system. By facilitating timely and accurate flash flood warnings, it greatly contributes to the success of the global initiative known as "Early Warnings for All," aiming at reducing loss of life and destruction to property.Since its inception in 2009, FFGS has made remarkable progress and now covers over 40% of the global population in more than 72 countries (2022). It also includes landslide, riverine, urban and seasonal to sub-seasonal modules, and extensive technical training programs on flash flood prediction for hydrometeorologist as well as disaster managers. So far, more than 1,000 experts have been trained in the FFGS and flash flood forecasting. WMO has developed FFGS in partnership with the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS)/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Agency for International Development Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA), and the Hydrologic Research Center (HRC).   More Information on FFGS

Activity

Hydrological Services

WMO is the lead United Nations specialized agency for operational hydrology, which covers the entire value cycle related to inland waters. This includes real-time and regular measurement, collection, processing, archiving and distribution of hydrological, hydrometeorological and cryospheric data to hydrological services, the development of analyses, models, forecasts and warnings to inform society, governments, disaster agencies, water resources management and support all water-related decisions. WMO supports the National Hydrological Services (NHSs) of its Member States and Territories to develop and strengthen capabilities in operational hydrology, with special attention to hydrological services delivery to reduce human and economic losses.

Activity

WMO Coordination Mechanism (WCM)

Co-designed and tailored solutions for United Nations (UN) and Humanitarian Agencies (HA)The WMO Coordination Mechanism (WCM), a core element of the Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative, supports crisis-prone and conflict-affected regions with timely expert advice and situational awareness.WCM delivers co-designed and tailored solutions to United Nations (UN) and Humanitarian Agencies (HA), curating authoritative weather, climate and water information and expert advice from WMO Members and Centres, advancing early action, enhancing preparedness efforts, and providing crisis support. It also plays an important role in terms of capacity building.From 2022 to 2025, thanks to the contributions from WMO Members and Centres, UN / HA and Partners, over 500 WCM products (scans and briefings) have supported humanitarian agencies in saving lives and livelihoods (e.g. WCM HydroMet Scans for the Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm MOCHA in Myanmar / Bangladesh in 2023, and for the earthquake-impacted areas in Myanmar in 2025).WCM activities have also increased the visibility of WMO Members and Centres within the humanitarian community. More on the WMO Coordination Mechanism (WCM)Weather4UN Pilot ProjectWCM Service Delivery

Related publications

Integrated Flood Management (Concept Paper)

Flood Management Policy Series

APFM Tool Series

APFM Guidance Document

State of Global Water Resources 2023

Fact sheets

Tropical cyclone forecasting

Related topics

Water

Drought

Related news

Magazine Article
20 July 2026

Turning Flood Alerts into Community Action in Djibouti

Magazine Article
23 April 2026

The Associated Programme on Flood Management at 25: A global commitment to resilience

Magazine Article
23 April 2026

Winning youth-led projects tackle flood risks in Nigeria and Uganda

Project update
2 April 2026

Eastern African Countries Advance Urban Flood Forecasting

Project update
27 March 2026

Regional Training Strengthens Flood Forecasting in Central Africa

News
2 December 2025

Devastating rainfall in Asia claims hundreds of lives

Update
24 November 2025

Projects in Nigeria and Uganda win the 2025 competition for youth-led initiatives

Update
4 November 2025

2025 International Hydrology Prize: celebrating excellence in hydrological science

Update
20 October 2025

WMO launches Community of Practice on Flood Forecasting

View all news

Welcome to the World Meteorological Organization

Jobs at WMO

Find out about employment opportunities at the WMO

The WMO Building

The story of how our HQ came to be

Procurement

View the latest tenders

Awards

WMO Awards recognize outstanding contributions

Contact Us

How to contact WMO

© 2026 World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Copyright

Disclaimer

Privacy Policy

Report fraud, corruption or abuse

------
导航页打开网址