Flooding occurrences in the portuguese continental coastal zone: a database for the period 1980-2018

Abstract

The Portuguese continental coastal zone is characterized by its lithological, morphological, biological and landscape diversity. With a coastline extension of approximately 987 km, this zone has great importance in the national context. The increasing anthropic occupation of the coastal zone in the last seven decades led to a conflict with the natural dynamics of these areas. The project MOSAIC.pt emerges from the need of a comprehensive flood risk management framework for the Portuguese coastal zones, including estuaries. One of the innovative challenges of this project is to identify the coastal critical typologies affected by flooding, based in historical data. Hence, a historical database of coastal flood occurrences was created for the period 1980-2018. Historical data was collected in national and regional newspapers. The database includes relevant information such as flood triggering factors and impacts. For the period 1980-2018, a total of 398 occurrences of coastal overtopping and flooding were identified. The analysis shows that the vast majority of occurrences are located on the Portuguese western coast. In terms of impacts, the typologies associated with material, natural, environmental and lastly human impacts stand out. Results provide relevant temporal and spatial information about coastal historical flood occurrences and contribute for the design of a risk framework.