Some lessons to improve adaptation measures in basis to the analysis of three extreme rainfall events and its associated impacts in the Spanish Mediterranean Coast.

The Mediterranean coast of Spain is well known for its pleasant weather, which results in high population densities and large number of tourists. The littoral area is constituted by a rich variety of ecosystems combined with a well-developed industry and agricultural land. The attractive Mediterranean climate has another side of the story, due partially to the Spanish mountain ranges along the east coast. This results in extreme rainfall events that drive flash floods that carry significant economic, environmental and social impact to the affected areas. The mentioned scenario gets more complex when considering the climate change that is already experienced in the Mediterranean region. Among others, the increase in extreme precipitation events envisioned by global climate models. Considering that storms and flash floods are the highest occurrence and most expensive events, it is fair to analyse the adaptation measures in place for the studied area.

The present work shows the comparative analysis of three recent case studies of major compound hazard events happened in the Mediterranean coast of Spain with special focus on littoral impacts and within a short time frame of 4 months: September 2019, October 2019, and January 2020. The nearness of the events left short time for recovery between them, as well as added aggravation due to the accumulated environmental and economic impacts caused to the region and the Covid-19 pandemics. The work presents a wide range of data (meteorological, hydrological, economical, impact data, etc.), collected from the press and social media as well as from official sources such as CCS, Meteorological agencies, Civil Protection, and others. This allows developing a multidisciplinary approach from the point of view of hydrology, meteorology, sea sciences and social science.

The analysis of the events is made from a holistic point of view including details as varied as the geographical areas affected up to municipality level, circumstances of casualties, location of extreme hydrometeorological values recorded during the events, environmental impact and economic loss. Furthermore, the different factors driving to each compound hazard event (floods, windstorms, sea surges, ...) and cascade effects have been analysed. Moreover, an analysis of the adaptation measures present at the time is done, along with suggestions of complementary or better adaptation measures for the three cases. Even though the data collection and analysis are made for the entire affected area within the Iberian Peninsula, the impacts and adaptation measures considered in this communication have a focus on the coastal area, including its various littoral ecosystems, coastal infrastructures, tourist sector, etc.

This work has been done in the framework of the M-CostAdapt (CTM2017-83655-C2-1&2-R) research project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN-AEI/FEDER, UE).