The recently observed climate changes are the cause of, inter alia, increased rainfall intensity, which later results in both increased sea level and flood risk. In response to the growing flood danger in Europe, there has been established the Flood Directive. It is the common name of the Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007. It complements the earlier legislation in the field of water policy at EU level, in particular the Water Framework Directive, which omitted the issue of floods so far.
Flood Directive aims at reducing flood damages through proper development of areas vulnerable to flood phenomenon and at establishing “a framework for the assessment and management of flood risks”.
Flood Directive presents the frameworks for the implementation stages:
1. By 22 December 2011 Member States will formulate a preliminary flood risk assessment for river basin districts.
2. By 22 December 2013 Member States will draw up flood hazard maps and flood risk maps.
3. By 22 December 2015 on the basis of these maps there will be drawn up flood risk management plans.
Status of work on the Flood Directive implementation is presented through the European Water Information System (WISE):
Water Information System for Europe
On the official website user has access to interactive maps, data browser, European databases. Most data is supplied by the Member States of the European Union, implementing the EU directives guidelines.
