An international study including Dutch weather experts has found that the flash floods earlier this year were probably linked to climate change – and that this kind of weather pattern is likely to recur.

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) reports that we can expect similar events once in every 400 years, and that this will increase in line with global warming.

Although the floods, which affected Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, were connected with the water table and state of the rivers, researchers have looked at the immediate cause: heavy rainfall.

The researchers in the World Weather Attribution (WWA) team believe that intense summer rainfall is between 3% to 19% more likely now compared with the climate in 1900, when the world was on average 1.2 degrees C cooler. So, they believe, this kind of rainfall is between 1.2 and nine times more likely now.

However, local factors like infrastructure and water management also played a large role in the floods of July 12 to July 15.

The KNMI believes that Dutch water management measures, such as giving more room for the river, helped mitigate the effects here. In Dutch Limburg, however, the event was still categorised a disaster and the government has created a fund to compensate owners who are unable to claim on their insurance.