Insight into temporal and spatial coastal flooding through databases with historic meteorological data and national registry-reported natural disaster events

One of the most significant consequences of climate change that is already felt today and will be felt even more in the future is the frequency and severity of natural disasters. Of those, sea-caused floods and storm surges will have the biggest impact on coastal communities, which will be further potentiated on one hand by the sea level rise and on the other by increasing coastal population and economic activity which will make those communities even more vulnerable. As the underlying causes of extreme weather events cannot be circumvented, alternatively it is feasible to decrease the flood vulnerability of most affected areas and implement the right flood control measures. But before any steps can be taken in this direction it is of the utmost importance to analyse the patterns of such events and to establish an early warning system that will allow the local community to respond to such events in a timely manner. Slovenia keeps records on natural disasters to inform civil protection services for performing mobilizing actions during calamity interventions, and an environmental agency that keeps records on past weather conditions through various stationary land and sea sensors. In the case of coastal storms, the latter informs the first, as a matter of public safety during potentially emerging extreme weather conditions giving rise to coastal flooding. Piran, a coastal historic town situated on a narrow peninsula surrounded by North Adriatic Sea waters, is especially vulnerable to coastal floods with 7.3 floods per year on average occurring generally from October through March. Low-lying parts are especially flood-prone, of which the areas below 2.3 m above sea level cover a large percentage of the town covering a mixture of residential, commercial and cultural heritage buildings. With no long-term preventative sustainable measures yet in place and urban sensors 4 to 15 km away from the town, the early warning system does not rely on local climate services but uses general national forecasts. Here we combine the historic records on past flooding events and environmental data to understand the local flood patterns in Piran. This study aims to offer a more nuanced understanding of flood patterns in Piran through the combination of localized field-report and sensor systems from national databases to reliably enhance the precision of flood predictions. The study underscores the pivotal role of accurate, localized data to be extracted from national or regional registries where available that aid in fortifying coastal towns against the escalating impacts of climate change, safeguarding both the inhabitants and the invaluable architectural heritage of historic areas.