At a Glance

Scientists used computer simulations to study changing regional rainfall patterns.The United States, Indonesia,Central Europe and parts of India and Africa will be particularly susceptible to dangerous flooding in the decades to come.The researchers say the risk of riverflooding will rise despite efforts to rein in climate change.

Global warming will place millions of people around the world at risk from increased river flooding, a new study says.

According to the study published last week in the journal Science Advances, researchers with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany changing regional rainfall patterns. They found that the United States, Indonesia,Central Europe and parts of India and Africa will be particularly susceptible to dangerous flooding in the decades to come.

In light of their findings, the researchers recommend increased protective measures, includingbetter river management, improved dike systems, improved building standards and moving infrastructure away from rivers.

"More than half of the United States needs to at least double their protection within the next two decades," the researchers noted, adding that the threat is not limited to North America. "The need for adaptation to increased river flooding is a global problem affecting industrialized regions as much as developing countries."

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Co-author Anders Levermann, head of global adaptation research at PIK and a researcher at Columbia University’sLamont-Doherty Earth Observatoryin New York, that they were "surprised to find that even in developed countries with good infrastructure the need for adaptation is big.”

“Our yardstick is that people want to keep the protection level they have today — they don’t want things to become worse," Levermann said. "Consequently, in countries with a fairly good level of protection, much has to be done to keep the same level of protection and prevent that people indeed have to leave their homes due to flooding.”

The researchers pointout that the risk of riverflooding will rise despite efforts to rein in climate change by curbing greenhouse emissions. They saythe greenhouse gases already emitted in past decades have done irreversible harm. Should global warming exceed 2 degrees Celcius, communities will be unable to adapt to changes in river flooding patterns, the researchers warn.

"The time has come where mitigating future climate change must be accompanied by adapting to the climate change that we already caused," Levermann said.