Floods in Greece, a statistical and spatial approach

Flooding is one of the most important types of disasters in southern Europe recording many victims and extended damages over the last century. The increased pressure for urban expansion together with the high population density has increased flood risk considerably in the region. Greece is not an exception in this regime, having a very rich flooding record since the ancient times. In this work, an extensive catalogue of flooding phenomena during the last 130 years in Greece has been compiled based on numerous sources. Based on this record the temporal and spatial distribution of flood events and victims was examined. In total, 545 events were identified, causing 686 human casualties and inflicting extensive damage across the country. Results showed seasonality patterns with more events clustering in November. They also showed that urban environments tend to present a higher flood recurrence rates than mountainous and rural areas. An increasing trend in reported flood event numbers during the last decades was discovered, even though the number of human casualties remains relatively stable during the same period. Moreover, spatial patterns were identified highlighting areas and administrational entities with higher flood recurrence rates across the country. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012