Abstract
Floods, at present, may constitute the natural phenomenon with the greatest impact on the deterioration of cultural heritage, which is the reason why the study of flood risk becomes essential in any attempt to manage cultural heritage (archaeological sites, historic buildings, artworks, etc.) This management of cultural heritage is complicated when it is distributed over a wide territory. This is precisely the situation in the region of Castile and León (Spain), in which 2155 cultural heritage elements are registered in the Catalog of Cultural Heritage Sites of Castile and León, and these are distributed along the 94,226 km2 of this region. Given this scenario, the present study proposes a methodological framework of flood risk analysis for these cultural heritage sites and elements. This assessment is based on two main processing tools to be developed in addition: on the one hand, the creation of a GIS database in which to establish the spatial relationship between the cultural heritage elements and the flow-prone areas for different flood return periods and, on the other hand, the creation of a risk matrix in which different variables are regarded as associated both to flood hazard (return period, flow depth, and river flooding typology) and to flood vulnerability (construction typology, and construction structural relationship with the hydraulic environment). The combination of both tools has allowed us to establish each cultural heritage flood risk level, making its categorization of risk possible. Of all the cultural heritage sites considered, 18 of them are categorized under an Extreme flood risk level; and another 24 show a High potential flood risk level. Therefore, these are about 25% to 30% of all cultural heritage sites in Castile and León. This flood risk categorization, with a scientific basis of the cultural heritage sites at risk, makes it possible to define territories of high flood risk clustering; where local scale analyses for mitigation measures against flood risk are necessary.
Highlights
The analysis of river flood risk is a basic aspect in any attempt to integrate river management, and it is included in the European Flood Directive (60/2007/EC)
Crossing the information related to flood hazards that may affect BICs with the BIC flood vulnerability has allowed us to define the level of flood potential risk with a return period of 10, 100, and 500 years for the Castile and León region
To estimate the potential flood risk in the elements classified as Cultural Heritage sites in the Castile and León region, three matrices have been developed to encompass the analysis of flood hazard, flood vulnerability, and potential flood risk
Summary
The analysis of river flood risk is a basic aspect in any attempt to integrate river management, and it is included in the European Flood Directive (60/2007/EC). Elements such as cultural heritage (archaeological sites, historical buildings, artworks, etc.) are often located somewhere between both categories This means they can be assigned an economic value (market value), while at the same time they represent the record of the history of human civilization, whose value is intangible. This previously mentioned duality, and mainly the irreversibility, of flood damage on cultural heritage (which cannot be reproduced once it has been destroyed) makes the prediction and assessment of the flood risks that may affect these sites a critical task for their preservation.
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