Yes and no. In the north we simply don't build stuff where it could get flooded, or accept that it will be flooded. E.g. Hamburg's Fischmarkt is getting flooded quite regularly (spring/storm tides), no biggie it's built to handle it just let it happen it's not like those cobblestones would be priceless artifacts. Meanwhile, in more mountainous regions places started to think "hmm it was silly of our ancestors to build the village up the hill, we should build new stuff down in the valley by the river" because they hadn't seen a flash flood in a generation.

In short, the issue here is that the people there don't know how (sorry) water comes from above, below, and the sides. Couldn't happen up here that's every other day of the week.