Abstract
Human settlements in coastal areas are highly vulnerable to extreme events, especially in the Mediterranean area, which houses a large number of tourists during the summer and autumn months. It is important to carry out hazard studies at local scale to improve our understanding of natural and anthropogenic processes involved in episodes of coastal flooding. We reconstruct and characterize an extreme weather event in Tossa de Mar (northeastern Spain) and the subsequent urban flooding that occurred in 2008. Our results show flood heights up to 1.27 m, with the maximum occurring between 24 and 64 h after the start of the event. This is broadly consistent with the reconstructions obtained through interviews and photographs. Based on model simulations, we produce a hazard map for the town based on hydrodynamic scenarios for different return periods. We show that the southern part of the town is more susceptible to flooding, whereas the northern part is relatively resilient to extreme events. We recommend the adaption of a currently existing dune by adding vegetation and slightly increasing its height. This low economic cost action would significantly reduce flooding and increase resilience in this area.
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Acknowledgements
This research has been carried out in the framework of the Phd. in Geography of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the International Master for Managing Coastal and Estuarine Zones of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. The authors want to thank the members of the Master course group, the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya, the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, and the local authorities of the municipality of Tossa del Mar for the supplied data. CK thanks for funding from DICYT project number 405.
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Hernandez-Mora, M., Meseguer-Ruiz, O., Karas, C. et al. Estimating coastal flood hazard of Tossa de Mar, Spain: a combined model – data interviews approach. Nat Hazards 109, 2153–2171 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04914-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04914-3