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Floods, including flash and riverine floods, snowmelt floods, ice jams, and mud flows, are naturally occurring hazards that provide essential elements to the bio-diversity and sustainability of ecosystems and many human activities. Floods are also the most taxing type of water-related natural disasters to humans, material assets, as well as to cultural and ecological resources—affecting about 520 million people and their livelihoods and claiming about 25,000 lives annually worldwide. The annual cost to the world economy of floods and other water-related disasters exceeds $60 billion, whilst the cost of damage caused to cultural assets and natural resources is by no means quantifiable by economic scales.