Comparing flood mortality in Portugal and Greece (Western and Eastern Mediterranean)

Abstract

A B S T R A C TFor the first time flood mortality is analysed and compared between a Western (Portugal) and an Eastern Mediterranean country (Greece). Flood fatalities are examined and compared in terms of frequency, temporal evolution, spatial distribution, deadliest flood types, gender of the victims, circumstances surrounding fatalities, and individual and societal risk.A common flood fatalities database was formed for the period 1960-2010 by merging the DISASTER database for Portugal and the Greek database Individual flood cases generated more deaths in Greece than in Portugal (excluding an outlier flash flood event in the latter). Despite some fluctuations evidence of a gradual decrease in fatality numbers were recorded for both countries. Since the 1980's the number of flood cases with multiple fatalities has been gradually declining, due to changes in qualitative characteristics of mortality. Flood fatalities predominantly occur during autumn in Greece and during winter in Portugal.In both Greece and Portugal flash floods were responsible for more than 80% of the total mortality. The main metropolitan areas of each country were found to be hotspots of flood mortality; a trend connected, with the higher population density along the coastal areas combined with the expansion of urban fabric towards floodprone areas.Gender distribution of fatalities indicates that males are more vulnerable in both countries. The circumstances surrounding fatalities showed that fatalities occurring inside buildings have been gradually reducing in time, while vehicle-related deaths have been rising, showing that individuals hold an active role when they voluntarily enter in floodwaters during a flood.

Full‐scale testing of stability curves for vehicles in flood waters

“…A recent analysis of global statistics of flood impacts by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (UNISDR, ) estimated that in the period from 1995 to 2005, 606,000 lives were lost and 4.1 billion people were injured, left homeless or in need of emergency assistance as a result of weather‐related disasters. Country‐specific between 25 and 68% of the total number of flood fatalities occurs in vehicles that become unstable in floodwaters (Diakakis & Deligiannakis, ; Haynes et al, ; Jonkman & Vrijling, ; Kellar & Schmidlin, ; Pereira, Diakakis, Deligiannakis, & Zezere, ; Špitalar et al, ; Vinet, Boissier, & Saint‐Martin, ). Analysis of flood rescue data shows that occupied vehicles that become unstable due to the force of floodwaters are vulnerable to being washed off roadways and bridges into even deeper, more dangerous flows (Gissing, Opper, & van Leeuwen, ).…”

The potential of two types of urban flooding to cause material damages in Lisbon, Portugal

“…This partially justifies the absence of fatalities in this municipality since 1966 [15,16]. The progressive culverting of Lisbon's watercourses in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s led to the disappearance of flash floods, which is the most dangerous type of flooding in the Mediterranean region [13]. Despite the human damages caused by flooding are currently low, the same does not happen with material damages.…”

“…Flooding is one of the most important, dangerous and destructive natural hazards in the Mediterranean region [8][9][10][11][12][13]. In Portugal, flooding was the most deadly natural disaster during the 20 th century [14], in which the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) is a particularly affected region.…”

Quantifying damage contributions from convective and stratiform weather types: How well do precipitation and discharge data indicate the risk?

“…Because urban municipalities cover smaller areas, the probability of localised extreme precipitation hitting the area is smaller, yet if it does the consequences such as extreme runoff and surface water flooding occur immediately (c.f. Roodsari & Chandler, 2017;Sass et al, 2012;Syed et al, 2003), which is why urban areas are considered to be particularly vulnerable to flash floods (Guillén, Patalano, Garcia, & Bertoni, 2017;Kermanshah, Derrible, & Berkelhammer, 2017;Mahmood, Elagib, Horn, & Saad, 2017;Pereira, Diakakis, Deligiannakis, & Zezere, 2017). On the contrary, the area exposed is much larger in agricultural and alpine municipalities, and buildings are likely located closer to the hazard processes.…”