High-impact floods and flash floods in Mediterranean countries: the FLASH preliminary database

摘要

This paper contains a preliminary analysis of flood risk in Mediterraneancountries, conducted within the framework of the FLASH European Project. Allflood events recorded between 1990 and 2006 in the Mediterranean region havebeen included in the study. Results of previous international projects(STORM, SPHERE, AMPHORE, RINAMED and MEDEX), as well as information providedby FLASH Project partners and data included in scientific papers were themain source used in building this database. All the above information hadbeen dispersed in various places, and an attempt was made here to create,for the first time, a verified and complete single database for the entireMediterranean region. The work analyses the spatial and temporaldistribution of flood events, as well as their social impact, with specialattention to certain case studies that have been analysed in detail.