The mathematical field of extreme value theory was created to model rare events such as 100-year floods for the purposes of civil engineering.
In 2002 100-year floods caused by over a week of continuous heavy rains ravaged Europe, killing dozens, dispossessing thousands, and causing damages of billions of dollars in Russia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Romania, Spain, Croatia, Italy, and Bulgaria.
Also see topographic map, extreme weather,
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump