Under the background of climate change and the increasing impact of human activities, it is urgent to realize precise preventive control against drought and flood disaster risks. Research progress of drought and flood events was reviewed from the aspects of preparation mechanism, propagation mechanism, event evaluation, risk assessment, and impact effects. The current deficiencies in the evolution mechanism and the construction of evaluation indicators of drought and flood events were clarified. Essential connotation, impact effect, and evaluation methods of drought and flood events were analyzed from the perspective of the dualistic water cycle and its associated processes at four scales