Households Impacted by Flood Events Expected to Double by 2030

Oh boy.  As if the news wasn’t grim enough, a new analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI) predicts that the number of people negatively impacted by flood events will double globally in the next 10 years. 

The study predicts that a whopping 147 million people a year will be harmed by flooding by 2030, compared to an estimated 72 million annually today.  To put it in terms of dollars and cents, flooding is predicted to cause $712 billion in damage annually in 2030, compared to $174 billion a year today.

The report goes on to predict how things will look in 2050 – you can read about it here if you’re looking to get depressed.

Why Flood Events Will Impact More People in the Future

The WRI report essentially blames all of this on climate change, which is predicted to cause stronger winds, more frequent major hurricanes, higher seas, and more intense periods of rain.  Secondary reasons include over-population, continued construction within flood-prone areas, and a sinking of the ground caused by overuse of ground water. 

In terms of the ‘impact numbers,’ it completely correlates with population density.  This is why the report predicts the areas that will experience the greatest number of flood events are densely-populated countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. 

Here in the U.S., it’s all about coastal flooding damage.  Annual flood damage is predicted to be $38 billion a year in 2050, compared to $1.8 billion a year today.  About 50% of the impacted residents in the U.S. will live in 3 states – Massachusetts, Florida or Louisiana. 

Interestingly, river floods are not expected to increase, mainly due to various flood-mitigation efforts that have been made over the years.  No, the harm is from coastal flooding, and while the numbers in the report seem a little inflated, I can’t deny that coastal flood events are certainly bound to increase going forward.