Floods cause distress and damage wherever they happen and flooding from rivers, estuaries and the sea threatens many millions of people in Europe. Insurance losses from flooding have increased significantly since 1990 and flood management in Europe is changing with a move from flood protection and defence to comprehensive flood risk management.

FLOODrisk 2008 is an initiative of FLOODsite, the largest European research project on flooding, coordinated by HR Wallingford. FLOODrisk 2008 is an open forum for researchers, flood risk managers, policy makers and practitioners from government, commercial and research organisations, designers, owners and national agencies to discuss advances, case studies and best practice in this important subject. FLOODrisk 2008 is also supported by the Flood Risk Management Research Consortium.

FLOODrisk 2008 will explore research advances in flood risk analysis and innovations in flood risk management practice. The conference will consider all aspects of flood risk and will cover the causes of floods, their impacts on people, property and the environment, and portfolios of risk management measures.