They cite the example of the Philippines, where policymakers are wringing their hands about a possible gradual climate-change-mediated rise in sea level from 1 to 3 millimeters per year while ignoring the primary cause of enhanced flood risk.

FORBES: Beyond Copenhagen

"This could cause a flood that could generate a mudflow down the flanks of the volcano, into the North Fork Toutle River, " Dr Major added.

BBC: NEWS | Americas | Concern over rumbling US volcano

Most of the collapses that have taken place over the last 10 years in a study done recently by engineers, about 85 percent of them were from some external cause like a flood that undercuts the pilings or a barge or a ship hitting them.

NPR: Collapsed Minneapolis Bridge Was Under Repair

Mozambican Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao warned that the rain of the past 48 hours could cause rivers to burst again and re-flood areas just beginning to dry out.

BBC: Helicopter appeal for Madagascar

And in late 2009, a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' mismanagement at the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was the cause for flood damage in the Lower Ninth Ward and St.

CNN: New Orleans is storming back

In theory, that will cause rivers fed by Himalayan glaciers to flood first, then will dry up once the glaciers retreat, endangering tens of millions of people in lowland Bangladesh.

FORBES: The New Military War Against Climate Change