Based on documentary sources incidence variations of flood events can be reconstructed back to AD 1500 for several catchment areas in Central Europe. Links to atmospheric circulation modes, derived from reconstructed large-scale sea level pressure (SLP) grids for the last 500 years, have been identified on climatic time scales (monthly to seasonal). These relations are expressed in terms of several indices describing the particular importance of atmospheric circulation modes as a dynamical background for the varying incidence of flood events. During winter, the zonal circulation mode covers the largest part of these events, in relation to mode-frequency, however, other circulation modes become important during historical periods of increased flood frequency, e.g. modes characterised by Atlantic low and Russian high pressure centres. Different subtypes of this mode reached maxima in flood-association during different climatic periods of the past.