California Flood Damage and The El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Despite efforts to reduce vulnerability to flooding in California, flood damages have increased significantly in recent years. Previous work has shown that precipitation variability in California is strongly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. This paper compares ENSO with statewide flood damage in California normalized to 1999-dollar values. Results suggest that there is no clear, consistent relationship between El Niño and flood damage in California and indicate that large flood damage is not limited to this warm phase of ENSO.