International audienceThe Cévennes–Vivarais Mediterranean Hydrometeorological Observatory (OHM-CV) is a research initiative aimed at improving the understanding and modeling of the Mediterranean intense rain events that frequently result in devastating flash floods in southern France. A primary objective is to bring together the skills of meteorologists and hydrologists, modelers and instrumentalists, researchers and practitioners, to cope with these rather unpredictable events. In line with previously published flash-flood monographs, the present paper aims at documenting the 8–9 September 2002 catastrophic event, which resulted in 24 casualties and an economic damage evaluated at 1.2 billion euros (i.e., about 1 billion U.S. dollars) in the Gard region, France. A description of the synoptic meteorological situation is first given and shows that no particular precursor indicated the imminence of such an extreme event. Then, radar and rain gauge analyses are used to assess the magnitude of the rain event, which was particularly remarkable for its spatial extent with rain amounts greater than 200 mm in 24 h over 5500 km2. The maximum values of 600–700 mm observed locally are among the highest daily records in the region. The preliminary results of the postevent hydrological investigation show that the hydrologic response of the upstream watersheds of the Gard and Vidourle Rivers is consistent with the marked space–time structure of the rain event. It is noteworthy that peak specific discharges were very high over most of the affected areas (5–10 m3 s−1 km−2) and reached locally extraordinary values of more than 20 m3 s−1 km−2. A preliminary analysis indicates contrasting hydrological behaviors that seem to be related to geomorphological factors, notably the influence of karst in part of the region. An overview of the ongoing meteorological and hydrological research projects devoted to this case study within the OHM-CV is finally presented

2010) Flood frequency analysis using historical data: accounting for random and systematic errors. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(2), 192-208. Abstract Flood frequency analysis based on a set of systematic data and a set of historical floods is applied to several Mediterranean catchments. After identification and collection of data on historical floods, several hydraulic models were constructed to account for geomorphological changes. Recent and historical rating curves were constructed and applied to reconstruct flood discharge series, together with their uncertainty. This uncertainty stems from two types of error: (a) random errors related to the water-level readings; and (b) systematic errors related to over-or under-estimation of the rating curve. A Bayesian frequency analysis is performed to take both sources of uncertainty into account. It is shown that the uncertainty affecting discharges should be carefully evaluated and taken into account in the flood frequency analysis, as it can increase the quantiles confidence interval. The quantiles are found to be consistent with those obtained with empirical methods, for two out of four of the catchments. Analyse fréquentielle des débits de crues avec des données historiques en prenant en compte les erreurs aléatoires et systématiquesRésumé Ce papier présente une analyse fréquentielle des crues basée sur un échantillon de crues collecté sur une période systématique et sur une période historique. Elle est appliquée sur plusieurs petits bassins versants méditerranéens. Après le recensement et la collecte des données sur les crues historiques, plusieurs modèles hydrauliques ont été construits pour prendre en compte l'évolution géomorphologique des cours d'eau. Des courbes de tarage pour les périodes récentes et historiques ont été construites et utilisées pour estimer les débits de crues avec leurs incertitudes. Ces incertitudes prennent en compte deux types d'erreurs: (a) une erreur aléatoire liée à la lecture de la hauteur d'eau, et (b) une erreur systématique liée à une sur ou sous estimation de la courbe de tarage. Un modèle bayésien d'analyse fréquentielle est développé pour prendre en compte ces deux sources d'incertitudes. Il est montré que les incertitudes affectant les débits doivent être prise en compte dans l'analyse fréquentielle des crues car elles peuvent significativement modifier les intervalles de confiance des quantiles. Les quantiles de crues obtenus semblent concordant avec les estimations de formules empiriques pour deux des quatre bassins étudiés.

[1] This paper illustrates how historical information on floods can be retrieved in the a priori unfavourable case of small and sparsely populated catchments, and how this information can improve the estimation of flood discharge quantiles. It is based on the analysis of four small gauged rivers located in the south of France. Using various sources of archives, the flood discharges were estimated for past historical periods ranging from 100 to 200 years. The corresponding historical discharge series were then used in combination with the available systematic measurement series to evaluate peak discharge quantiles. The selected Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov Chain statistical inference approach provides credibility intervals for the estimated quantiles, the width of which reflects the information content of the data set used for the inference. The use of the historical data in the inference procedure leads to significant reductions of these credibility intervals, even if limitations in the content of historical inventories are introduced. A sensitivity analysis is conducted in the second part of the paper to evaluate to what extent these positive conclusions on the added value of historical data for flood frequency analysis can be extrapolated to other case studies. The influence of the number of historical floods documented (perception threshold) and of the level of knowledge of historical flood peak discharges is studied. The results are consistent with the previous works on the same issue and explain why these works led to apparently contradictory conclusions concerning the possible usefulness of historical data in flood frequency studies.Citation: Payrastre, O., E. Gaume, and H. Andrieu (2011), Usefulness of historical information for flood frequency analyses: Developments based on a case study, Water Resour. Res., 47, W08511,

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Accurate flood forecasts are critical to an efficient flood event management strategy. Until now, hydro-meteorological forecasts have mainly been used to establish early-warnings in France (meteorological and flood vigilance maps) or over the world (flash-flood guidances). These forecasts are typically limited either to the main streams covered by the flood forecasting services or to specific watersheds with specific assets like check dams, which in most cases are well gauged river sections, thus leaving aside large parts of the territory. This paper presents a distributed hydro-meteorological forecasting approach, which makes use of the high spatial and temporal resolution rainfall estimates that are now available, to provide information at ungauged sites.The proposed system intended to detect road inundation risks had initially been developed and tested in areas of limited size. This paper presents the extension of such a system to an entire region (i.e. the Gard region in Southern France), including over 2,000 crossing points between rivers and roads and its validation with respect to a large data set of actual reported road * Corresponding author. i.e. pre-positioning of rescue equipment, interruption of the traffic on the exposed roads and determination of safe access or evacuation routes. Moreover, beyond the specific application to the supervision of a road network, the research undertaken herein also provides also results for the performance of hydro-meteorological forecasts on ungauged headwaters.

This paper describes an integrated, high-resolution dataset of hydro-meteorological variables (rainfall and discharge) concerning a number of high-intensity flash floods that occurred in Europe and in the Mediterranean region from 1991 to 2015. This type of dataset is rare in the scientific literature because flash floods are typically poorly observed hydrological extremes. Valuable features of the dataset (hereinafter referred to as the EuroMedeFF database) include (i) its coverage of varied hydro-climatic regions, ranging from Continental Europe through the Mediterranean to Arid climates, (ii) the high space-time resolution radar rainfall estimates, and (iii) the dense spatial sampling of the flood response, by observed hydrographs and/or flood peak estimates from post-flood surveys. Flash floods included in the database are selected based on the limited upstream catchment areas (up to 3000 km 2 ), the limited storm durations (up to 2 days), and the unit peak flood magnitude. The EuroMedeFF database comprises 49 events that occurred in

International audienceThis paper describes and illustrates a methodology to conduct postflood investigations based on interdisciplinary collaboration between social and physical scientists. The method, designed to explore the link between crisis behavioral response and hydrometeorological dynamics, aims at understanding the spatial and temporal capacities and constraints on human behaviors in fast-evolving hydrometeorological conditions. It builds on methods coming from both geosciences and transportations studies to complement existing post-flood field investigation methodology used by hydrometeorologists. The authors propose an interview framework, structured around a chronological guideline to allow people who experienced the flood firsthand to tell the stories of the circumstances in which their activities were affected during the flash flood. This paper applies the data collection method to the case of the 15 June 2010 flash flood event that killed 26 people in the Draguignan area (Var, France). As a first step, based on the collected narratives, an abductive approach allowed the identification of the possible factors influencing individual responses to flash floods. As a second step, behavioral responses were classified into categories of activities based on the respondents' narratives. Then, aspatial and temporal analysis of the sequences made of the categories of action to contextualize the set of coping responses with respect to local hydrometeorological conditions is proposed. During this event, the respondents mostly follow the pace of change in their local environmental conditions as the flash flood occurs, official flood anticipation being rather limited and based on a large-scale weather watch. Therefore, contextual factors appear as strongly influencing the individual's ability to cope with the event in such a situation

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