Approximately 473,000 people live areas that are larger flood risk in spainAreas that are flooded every ten years on average, according to data managed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition (Miteco), which estimates that a total of about 2.7 million people live in floodplains.
The flood directive requires the preparation of three probability scenarios. “return periods”, i.e. the period of time during which the next flood may occurFrancisco Javier Sánchez Martínez, Deputy General Manager of Miteco Water Protection and Risk Management, told Efe:
These three return periods are 10, 100 and 500 years; this formula according to Sánchez Martínez changes are recommendedbecause he does not consider it useful to get an idea of the real risk of flooding a house or a place of special importance (hospital, school, nursing home etc.).
According to these calculations, 2.7 million people in Spain live in areas likely to experience floods every 500 years.
But Sánchez Martínez argues that if your house was flooded a hundred years ago, one might think it wouldn’t happen again this century, “and in the end it turns against us.” “We want to talk more about the possibilities of their occurrence,” the expert emphasizes.
In reality there may be almost 700,000.
According to Miteco management plans, 473,000 people live in areas that flood every 10 yearsAreas with the highest flood risk in Spain.
But Sánchez Martínez insists this means that the house “may flood three or four times a year, so it’s just a statistical matter.”
In any case, these data relate only to intercommunal catchments for which Miteco is responsible; That is, if other basins are added, It is estimated that the number of people living in high-risk areas may rise to around 700,000.
In Spain, floods are the second leading cause of death after heatwaves: According to Miteco, approximately 300 people have died due to floods in the last 30 years.
Consequences of building in flood zones
According to Julio Barea, head of Greenpeace’s Water campaign, the high level of danger in this country is related to the fact that: “We have built flood zones by occupying riverbed areas,” and that “unfortunately has consequences.”
Since the beginning of the century, The meteorological events that cause the most deaths are high temperatures (28%), followed by floods (20%). and sea storms (17%), with Civil Protection claiming in its 2021 report that “81.2% of deaths due to natural risks in 2020 were caused by meteorological events.”
Assuming the world follows the most sustained path of greenhouse gas emissions, leading to a less encouraging future that the international scientific community considers (RCP 8.5 scenario), Miteco estimates that 19% of Significant Flood Potential (ARPSIs), called Risk Areas, will be affected by the climate crisis. It has a “fairly significant” impact as a result, with 29% experiencing a significant impact.
“So, almost half of ARPSIs may have significant impacts from climate change,” the department’s management plan says.
Cost of flood disaster
The Insurance Compensation Consortium, an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, allocated 300 million euros in compensation for floods in urban areas in 2019 alone.
Francisco Espejo, meteorologist and deputy director for studies and international relations at CCS, told EFE: Flood compensation volume has almost “tripled” in the last fifty yearsWhile it is true that the number of insured assets is now almost three times greater.
Espejo said the bulk of the costs borne by this agency, 87%, were aimed at covering damages from floods and unusual cyclonic storms.
……………………
Contact address of the environmental department:[email protected]