OREANDA-NEWS. In the result of climate change in the past 12 years, river floods in North-Western Europe intensified and became more frequent, and in southern and Eastern Europe, by contrast, are less likely. This conclusion researchers made based on the level of the river from 3,700 hydrometric stations in Europe.

Russian scientists from Lomonosov Moscow state University has created an international database, which includes all the floods that happened in Europe.

Experts point out that in Europe, these natural disasters have become more frequent and widespread that is associated with the increase in economic damage. According to them, over the last 12 years in North-West Europe increased rainfall in autumn and winter, which increased the volume of water in the rivers of the region, while in southern European countries the rainfall is decreased, which in average resulted in a decrease in the number of floods.

In the study, researchers also found that over the last 50 years in Eastern Europe, spring temperature has increased every decade by one degree Celsius, which led to the reduction of spring floods and to increase the number of extreme precipitation in the summer periods.