3 ms·
Does "once in a century" have any scientific meaning? Because if you look at the link, far more people died in the past from flooding. 10,000 per flood vs. 100
by ceilingcorner 5y ago
Does "once in a century" have any scientific meaning? Because if you look at the link, far more people died in the past from flooding. 10,000 per flood vs. 100 today.
Whether that is because the floods were larger or because we had less robust engineering is unknown.
- mikeg8 5y agoAnother explanation for lower casualties is modern communications. How did people in the past know to evacuate prior to modern meteorology and real-time communications? Had there been less warning of this event, the #s dead may well have been in the thousands.
- lhorie 5y agoIndeed. One commenter below mentioned family getting evacuated in anticipation. Also worth noting this event is still ongoing, so the "at least 120" number is likely lowballing.
- abc_lisper 5y agoI think it does. Insurance companies use it to calculate the monthly payments. I am sure they are well quantized.
- Someone 5y agoUnfair comparison. The large ones of those (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_floods_in_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_floods_in_Europe) all were flooding of coastal areas by sea water. This is flooding by rainwater in mountainous regions.