SMC-Floods database: A high resolution press database on floods for the Spanish Mediterranean Coast (1960–2015)

Abstract

Abstract. Floods are the natural disaster that affects the greatest number of people and causes the highest economic losses in the world. However, some areas, such as the Mediterranean Coast of the Iberian Peninsula, are especially exposed to this natural hazard. The problem takes on even more relevance when a changing social dynamic is added to the natural context. With a view to accomplishing correct spatial planning in the light of the flood hazard, it is necessary to carry out an exhaustive analysis of the spatiotemporal variability of floods with a scale of analysis that allows the detection of changes and the search for causality. Databases compiled from journalistic documentation offer these possibilities of analysis and represent a vital tool for correct spatial planning. In this study we present the SMC (Spanish Mediterranean Coast)-Flood Database for the municipalities of the Mediterranean coast of mainland Spain. This database has enabled the reconstruction of 3008 cases of flooding on a municipal scale and with daily resolution, with information on the type of damages, intensity and area affected. The spatiotemporal analysis of the data reveals black spots where floods are especially intense and damaging, compared to highly-developed areas where the frequency of the floods is very high. This situation is especially worrying, insofar as we have detected a growing trend in the frequency and area affected by floods. However, it is positive that the intensity and severity of the floods follows a falling trend. The main novelty lies in the fact that the high-resolution spatial analysis has made it possible to detect a clear latitudinal gradient of growing intensity and severity with a north–south direction. This pattern subjects the coastal municipalities of the south of Spain to a complicated adaptation scenario.

Who can you trust? Implications of institutional vulnerability in flood exposure along the Spanish Mediterranean coast

“…Some authors have suggested that the increase in the impact of floods is due more to socio-economic factors than to climate-related factors (Barredo et al, 2012;IPCC, 2012;Pérez et al, 2015a). In this context, the social factor involved in the risk equation established by Wisner et al (2004), vulnerability, is particularly relevant with respect to changes in the flood risk, but is very difficult to measure because social and environmental issues are at stake (Gil-Guirado et al, 2016). Despite there are a multitude of definitions of vulnerability (e.g.…”

La geografía española actual. Estado de la cuestión

“…De manera que, esta norma no tuvo ningún efecto práctico. Su período de vigencia coincidió con el proceso de expansión residencial más activo que ha vivido España en toda su historia (boom inmobiliario) que motivó el mayor incremento de la vulnerabilidad y exposición a la peligrosidad natural, particularmente a las inundaciones, en nuestro país (Burriel, 2008;Gil-Guirado et al, 2014;Pérez Morales et al, 2015). Habrá que esperar a la aprobación de la Ley del Suelo de 2008 para que una normativa urbanística aclarase la manera de acreditar la condición de riesgo de un territorio: la elaboración de un mapa (art.…”

Before, during and after the Dana of September 2019 in the region of Murcia (Spain), as reported in the written press

“…Place/theme Author Climate risks Catalonia Western Mediterranean Llasat-Botija et al, 2006Llasat-Botija et al, 2007 Suarez, 1999García Martínez and Martín Ezpeleta, 2000Hernández Valera et al, 2003Llasat et al, 2009Domínguez-Castro et al, 2015Torrens Calleja et al, 2016Lopera Pareja, 2017Olcina Cantos, 2005Floods 1978 Spain (1960Spain ( -2015 Flooding in Vetania (Argentina) Danube floods from1012 to the present Calvo García-Tornel et al, 2001Mayer Suarez, 2002Olcina Cantos et al, 2004Pejenaute Goñi, 2008Cuello Gijón, 2010Rashid, 2011Pérez Morales and Gil Guirado, 2012Melinda, 2015Gutiérrez Abril, 2016Lang et al, 2016León González-Mazón, 2017Archer and Fowler, 2018Archer et al, 2019 Cuello Gijón, 2018 Barriendos et al, 2019Gil Guirado et al, 2019Ortuño Cano et al, 2019Prohaska et al, 2019 PAPER ACCEPTED. PRE-PRINT VERSION…”