Abstract. Flood databases of high spatio-temporal resolution are a
necessary tool for proper spatial planning, especially in areas with high
levels of exposure and danger to floods. This study presents the preliminary
results of the Spanish Mediterranean Coastal Flood (SMC-Flood) database covering the
municipalities in this region. This database collects information on flood
cases that occurred between 1960 and 2015 by systematically consulting the
digital archives of the main newspapers in the study area. The search for
flood information was conducted by means of using links between municipality
names and seven keywords that correspond to the most common ways of referring to
a situation that is likely to describe a flood in Spain. This methodology
has enabled the reconstruction of 3008 flood cases at a municipal scale with
daily resolution while gathering information on the types of damage,
intensity, severity and area affected. The spatio-temporal analysis of the
data reveals hotspots where flood cases are especially intense and damaging
when compared to highly developed areas where the frequency of flood cases
is very high. This situation is especially worrying insofar as we have
detected a growing trend in the frequency and area affected by flood cases.
However, one positive aspect is that the intensity and severity of flood
cases 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 in a north–south
direction. This pattern calls for new actions by the coastal municipal
authorities of southern Spain for adaptation to a more complex flood
scenario.
SMC-Flood database: a high-resolution press database on flood cases for the Spanish Mediterranean coast (1960–2015)
