Centuries Ago, Europeans Were Plagued by Constant Flooding, With 16 Major Events That Killed Thousands Over the Course of Just Three Years

When researchers went looking for information about the legendary Magdalena Flood, they were surprised to discover that it was just one of many extreme weather events that ravaged the region in the early 1340s

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

August 24, 2026 12:43 p.m.

Share

Copy linkEmailSMSFacebookXRedditLinkedInBlueskyPrint

Add as preferred source

In July 1342, the Magdalena Flood devastated large swaths of Central Europe. Thousands of people died in the catastrophic incident, which also destroyed bridges, settlements and crops.

Now, however, researchers say the flood was not an isolated event. Instead, it was just one part of a sequence of floods that ravaged the region over nearly two years. These findings, published August 12 in the journal Nature, not only provide a clearer picture of medieval climate and history, but could also help inform modern flood-management decisions.

The Magdalena flood, also known as the Magdalene flood or the St. Mary Magdalene’s flood, is considered one of the worst natural disasters to strike Central Europe in the past 1,000 years. Yet despite the flood’s impact, historians know surprisingly little about the event.

To remedy that, historians, geographers, climatologists and other specialists spent years combing through medieval archives, including administrative records, church texts, legal documents and personal writings. By the time they were finished, they had reviewed more than 1,000 pieces of evidence related to the floods.

Using the collection of records, the researchers were able to piece together a more comprehensive picture of what was happening in Europe in the early 1340s. They determined that a series of 16 floods occurred between late 1341 and 1343. The year 1342 alone “had the greatest number of great and outstanding floods reported in the past 700 years in Europe,” per the study.

“This is a massive cycle of floods,” Ellen Arnold, an environmental historian at Ohio State University who was not involved with the research, tells Science’s Julia Vaz. “It’s like taking the last five extreme flood events over the last 20 years and having them all happen within two years.”

The repeated disasters appear to have influenced flood-management practices in the years that followed. The researchers identified a shift toward more robust bridges, river regulation, stronger flood defenses and other forms of mitigation.

What caused the series of floods? Some medieval observers interpreted the disasters through religious or supernatural frameworks, while Paris-based astronomers reportedly attributed the unusual sequence to a particular constellation. Today, however, researchers think that natural climate factors may have caused the floods.

In 1340 and 1341, numerous volcanoes erupted, including Hekla in Iceland, and the sulfur aerosols they spewed into the atmosphere could have contributed to the extreme weather. Additionally, the researchers note that Arctic sea ice was shrinking and solar activity was relatively low.

“The interplay of these factors could have contributed to intense low-pressure systems, prolonged rainfall and thus the unusual series of floods,” lead author Andrea Kiss, a historian and geographer at Vienna University of Technology, says in a statement.

The findings could also offer valuable lessons for understanding extreme weather today, the researchers say. At the time of the historic flooding, Europe was experiencing a broader transition toward the colder conditions associated with the Little Ice Age. By reconstructing how extreme precipitation unfolded during that period, researchers can gain a better understanding of how shifts in climate influence flooding. That knowledge could help support climate modeling and flood-risk assessment.

The findings also underscore the idea that severe floods don’t necessarily occur in isolation. When multiple extreme weather events strike in quick succession, the damage can compound, potentially overwhelming communities while they are still recovering from an earlier flood. Flood planning, the researchers argue, should account for that possibility.

“We recognize that flood events and the mechanisms that generate them are not always independent,” says study co-author Neil Macdonald, a geographer at the University of Liverpool, in a statement. “As a result, flood risk planning increasingly needs to consider the potential for multiple extreme events occurring in succession and the cumulative impact this could have.”

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.