The Floods – between natural and accidental. The terms „floods”, „flooding” and „flood hazard” cover a very wide range of phenomena, not all of which are treated with equal emphasis in the following discussions. Floods are rarely out of the local, national, or international news on both TV and in the newspapers. Most of the news items relate to fairly minor events which cause little damage and are soon forgotten except by those most directly affected. Some, however, reflect major disaster involving loss of life and the destruction of property, and bring in their wake hardship, suffering, disease and famine. The generally successful long-term utilisation of flood-prone areas has been interrupted frequently by major tragedies and recent history has seen many disastrous flood events. Flood hazards result from a combination of physical exposure and human vulnerability to geophysical processes.