Rainstorm hazards and related disasters in the North‐West Mediterranean region

Abstract

This paper describes and discusses the regional features of the rainstorm hazard and related disasters in the southern European region formed by the north‐west Mediterranean coast line from the Gulf of Valencia in Spain to the Tirrenian coastal areas in South—Italy. The feasibility of the mitigation of the disastrous effects of extreme storms and the resulting flash floods was the aim of a research project undertaken within the European Union's 1991–94 Programme on the Environment. The technical aim of the project, code named “STORM” (Storm Tracking and Observation for Rainfall‐Runoff Monitoring) was designed to improve the identification, monitoring and local forecasting of high‐intensity rainfall events which might cause flash flooding in northern coastal zones of the Mediterranean Sea. Eight laboratories in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom were involved in this Project, which is now presenting to the scientific community its major results. The author of this paper was deputised by the STORM laboratory consortium to prepare and present an overview of the justification of the project and its social‐economic relevance. The sequence of companion papers which follows highlights the major research findings of the STORM project and the technologies developed in it.