The Mediterranean coast, at risk of flooding due to climate change

The floods resulting from the climate crisis will put at risk almost 330,000 citizens of coastal areas in Spain in ten years, half of them in the Valencian Community, and almost one million in a horizon of 500 years, a third in that region, according to a study by the Observatory of Sustainability.

Catalonia is in second place, with almost 190,000 inhabitants affected by flood risk in the 500-year period and 75,000 in a decade, followed by Andalusia, where the study estimates more than 130,000 people exposed in 500 years and almost 39,000 in a decade.

The authors of the report believe that climate change will cause an increase in exceptional weather situations due to irregularity in rainfall and notable changes in rainfall flows, which could lead to more unpredictable, torrential floods with more adverse effects.

The study indicates that 2.35 percent of the artificial surface -corresponding to urban area, industrial land, artificial land for agricultural use, tertiary uses, equipment and infrastructures- of the coastal strip of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands is in the flood sheet with a return period of ten years and 8.91 for a period of 500 years, most of it on the warm coast (Mediterranean and South Atlantic).

Only the artificial surfaces of the Galician coastal provinces are little exposed to floods, indicates the study, which emphasizes that there is no province with little affection in the Mediterranean and South Atlantic.

According to the study, most of the artificial areas at risk of flooding on the warm coast are a consequence of real estate tourism development, while on the north coast these are more consolidated historical urban areas and traditionally settled at the bottom of river valleys.

Valencia is the province with the highest risk of impact in percentage terms, since it occupies the first place in relative terms in a horizon of 100 and 500 years and the third in 10 years, while Valencia, Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga and Tarragona are the provinces most affected in absolute surfaces.

The section with the greatest accumulation of risk on the coastal urbanized areas extends between the south of the city of Valencia and Cabo de la Nao, with more than 1,500 hectares of artificial surface located on flood sheets on a stretch of coast of about 100 kilometers.

It is striking that all the campsites located in the province of Valencia are located in flood zones.

The report emphasizes that floods are the natural catastrophe that generates the most damage in Spain and in fact the Insurance Compensation Consortium and the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain quantify their cost at 800 million euros on average per year.

More than twice as many medium- or high-magnitude flash floods have been recorded in recent years than at the end of the 1980s and, according to the study, climate change is a worsening factor, causing changes in rainfall and climate patterns, sea level rise and, consequently, more frequent and severe flooding.

Experts recommend retracting the urbanized area, especially in those areas with illegal or irregular developments, reviewing the urbanization plans already approved, adapting the design of infrastructures to the potential danger of flooding, protecting the most vulnerable groups, implementing nature-based solutions, developing adequate flood risk management plans and identifying sources of financing for it.

Source: The Vanguard