Public perception of the urban pluvial floods risk-case study of Porec (Croatia)

Abstract

Pluvial floods are rain-related floods that occur when water drainage is not fast enough due to heavy rainfall. One of the key components in the management of the urban pluvial flood risk (UPFR) is risk perception (RP). The objective of this paper was to define factors of RP based on the selected variables and to examine their reliability. Emphasis is placed on the contextualization of five factors related to cognition: awareness of the risk of pluvial floods (F1) and situation: anthropogenic causes of pluvial floods (F2), natural causes of pluvial floods (F3), consequences of pluvial floods in the future (F4), and preparedness for pluvial floods (F5). Furthermore, historical pluvial floods data were acquired from multiple sources and used to determine the distance of respondents' homes from frequently flooded places. The results showed that the questionnaire was consistent, i.e., factors are highly reliable. Significant differences were observed in the F2 regarding the gender of the respondents, and in the F4 regarding their age. Preparedness for the danger (F5) is the lowest perceived factor. Results from this study can facilitate communication between experts, decision-makers, and citizens.