“You Can Learn from Bad Experience”—Reasons and Background for Palaeohydrological Investigations

Floods are among the most frequent and consequential natural disasters on Earth. They occur in all environments at all times. They frequently surprise with unexpected magnitudes and the damage they cause. Characteristics such as floods of the century and millennium including comparisons with the biblical deluge are quickly on everyone's lips, but what do we really know about the floods of the past?