**Abstract**

Each year floods occur in many parts of the world and cause huge damages to agriculture, homes, schools, hospitals, highways, industries, water supply systems, infrastructure, levees, dams, and environment. They also cause loss of animal and human lives. Looking at the history of floods and damages caused, it is evident that they are amongst the costliest natural disasters and impact hundreds of thousands of people each year. It is widely accepted that floods cannot be eliminated entirely. However, they can be managed to mitigate the loss of life and property. Revisiting the types and causes of floods, this presentation focuses on the challenges in flood management. The challenges are both technical, including hydrometeorologic, hydrologic, hydraulic, geotechnical, and structural; and nontechnical, including education, communication and Internet, legal, administrative, social, political, risk analysis, and skilled professionals. The challenges have a wide variety but fall under seemingly disparate disciplines so the emphasis here is on their integration. Compounding these challenges is climate change whose impact can be assessed but whose forecast in space and time is still a challenge. The presentation is concluded with a personal reflection on paradigm shift.

**Keywords:** natural disasters, climate change, floods, risk, management, paradigm shift
