The evaluation of coastal damage caused by storms is not straightforward and different approaches can be applied. In this study, damage caused by extreme storms is evaluated at a regional scale based on news information published in regional newspapers. The data derived from the news are compared with hydrodynamic parameters to check the reliability of this methodology as a preliminary” fast approach” to evaluate storm damage and to identify hotspots along the coast. This methodology was applied to the two most extreme storms ever recorded along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, which occurred in January 2017 and January 2020, severely impacting the coast and causing significant community concerns. The news information from different media sources was processed and weighted to describe the resulting erosion, inundation, sand accumulation, and destruction of infrastructures. Moreover, an accuracy index for scoring the quality of the information was proposed. In spite of some limitations of the method, the resulting regional coastal hazard landscape of damage provides a rapid overview of the intensity and distribution of the damage and enables one to identify the location of potential hotspots for the analyzed extreme storm events. The results show that estimated damage intensity is better related to maximum wave energy than cumulative wave energy during a storm, and that beach characteristics should also be included for understanding the distribution of coastal damage.

中文翻译：

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利用报纸上发布的新闻信息在区域范围内估计沿海风暴的影响

风暴造成的海岸破坏的评估并不简单，可以采用不同的方法。在这项研究中，根据地区报纸上发布的新闻信息，在地区范围内评估了极端风暴造成的破坏。将新闻消息中的数据与流体动力学参数进行比较，以检查这种方法的可靠性，以此作为评估风暴破坏和确定沿海热点的初步“快速方法”。该方法应用于2017年1月和2020年1月发生在西班牙地中海沿岸的两个有史以来最极端的风暴，这严重影响了海岸并引起了社区的极大关注。来自不同媒体来源的新闻信息经过处理和加权，以描述由此产生的侵蚀，淹没，沙粒堆积，和基础设施的破坏。此外，提出了一种用于对信息质量进行评分的准确性指标。尽管该方法存在一些局限性，但由此产生的区域性沿海灾害危害景观提供了灾害强度和分布的快速概览，并使人们能够确定所分析极端风暴事件的潜在热点位置。结果表明，在风暴期间，估计的破坏强度与最大波能比累积波能更好，并且还应包括海滩特征，以了解沿海破坏的分布。由此产生的区域性沿海灾害破坏景象提供了对破坏强度和分布的快速概览，并使人们能够确定分析极端风暴事件的潜在热点位置。结果表明，在风暴期间，估计的破坏强度与最大波能比累积波能更好，并且还应包括海滩特征，以了解沿海破坏的分布。由此产生的区域性沿海灾害破坏景象提供了对破坏强度和分布的快速概览，并使人们能够确定分析极端风暴事件的潜在热点位置。结果表明，在风暴期间，估计的破坏强度与最大波能比累积波能更好，并且还应包括海滩特征，以了解沿海破坏的分布。