More exposed but also more vulnerable? Climate change, high intensity precipitation events and flooding in Mediterranean Spain

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of high intensity precipitation events in increasing the vulnerability to floods in Mediterranean Spain. Precipitation intensity in this area appears to have augmented in the last two decades in association with warming trends of the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, intense urbanization processes, occupying and transforming flood prone land, have produced an important increase in exposure. The main objective is to assess whether higher intensity precipitation and changing patterns in exposure aggravate vulnerability to floods. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, vulnerability is understood as the result of the interrelationships between exposure, sensitivity, impacts and adaptive capacity. Consequently, methods used involved the compilation and analysis of published and unpublished precipitation data, population and land use data, data on insurance claims, and media sources related to those variables. Findings Changes toward episodes of more intense precipitation in the expanding urban areas of Mediterranean Spain increase exposure but not necessarily vulnerability, at least in terms of human deaths. However, adaptative capacity needs to be formulated. Actions that attempt to absorb and eventually reuse flood flows (as the flood park in Alicante) appear to be more effective than traditional hydraulic solutions (as in Majorca). Originality/value The paper provides a systematic and coherent approach to vulnerability analysis taking into account the changing dynamics of its components. Especially, it signals the limits of current adaptive approaches to flooding and advocates for changes toward a more circular and less linear approach to urban drainage.

Structural measures against floods on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Evidence for the persistence of the “escalator effect”

“…As can be deduced from the previous data, the regulation of floodplains in the study area has been conspicuous by its absence or its limited effectiveness (López et al, 2020 andRibas et al, 2020). According to the works consulted in this regard, in recent decades floodplain management policy have not stopped the occupation of flood prone areas in the study area except in those areas where the delimitation of the Domain Public Hydraulic was made (Olcina-Cantos, 2007) or by the presence of a continuous flow.…”

What can we learn from the past? A century of changes in vulnerability to floods in the Ter River basin

“…The latest reports of the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET, 2015), following the calculation parameters of the IPCC (2014), indicate that these local extreme precipitation events tend to be more pronounced and severe in recent decades. Moreover, they produce the so called "pluvial flooding" that is becoming the main type of flood in recent times (Ribas et al, 2020).…”

“…The evolution of the amounts paid by the Consortium during the last decade indicates not so much an increase in the frequency and impacts of extreme natural phenomena as a greater penetration of insurance and, above all, an increasing accumulation of goods and services in areas of risk (Saurí, 2011). For example, in the Ter basin, the episode of intense rains in June 2000 in the city of Girona generated losses of around 3 million euros in insured damage, including damage to 200 shops and offices, 250 homes and 125 cars (Ribas et al 2020).…”

Chronicle of a forecast flood: exposure and vulnerability on the southeast coast of Spain

“…In recent decades the Mediterranean coast has experienced an increase in vulnerability and exposure to the danger of torrential rains (Olcina, 2017;López et al, 2017, Ribas et al, 2020. Consequently, there has been an increase in economic losses related to floods associated with rainstorms (Marchi et al, 2010;Spekkers et al, 2013;López, 2019).…”