Abstract:
Estuarine areas are often affected by flood episodes with significant infrastructural and
human damages caused by the overlap of different triggering factors. Currently flood risk
management practices are subject to increased scrutiny by the public and relevant
stakeholders requiring rigorous justification by flood risk managers and careful validation
of the technical options and human and financial resources allocated to the management
practice. Therefore, flood risk diagnosis through historical sources might constitute an
important and effective first approach to public policies validation.
In this paper is presented an estuarine flood damage database based on historical
information and discussed as to the extent these types of sources can contribute to improve
estuarine flood risk management in the Tagus estuary (Portugal). The paper discusses the
methodological findings and limitations and highlights the usefulness of historical
information integrating the results into the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC)
risk management framework.