Abstract
Since the 1940s, the city centre of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar has suffered from several flooding episodes from the several tributaries of ca n’Amer creek. Five lives lost and a significant impact on the population were the result of the most relevant flood in the series that occurred in 2018. In this paper, an analysis of the historical relationship of the village with floods, the answer provided by the administration to those floods, and the geographic setting and the anthropic actions on the land are considered. Using the data collected by direct observation, witnesses, and graphs and fieldwork, a thorough investigation of the volume, flow, direction and levels of water has been developed. This translates into an exhaustive mapping of the event, discriminating the hydraulic behaviour in each of the affected roads and showing the sequential development of the flood. Flooding is a combination of severe stream flows, avulsion processes and angular sections that combine with infraestructures that interfere with the flow direction and prevent its reintegration into the main channel and where the streets become active channels.
Highlights
The island of Mallorca shows significantly similar physical and territorial features to the Mediterranean coastline of the Iberian Peninsula
Floods in island areas with significant tourist development have been studied in the Canary Islands (López et al, 2019), with evident parallels with the case of the Balearic Islands
On October 9th 2018, there was a flood in the oriental coastline of Mallorca which affected the municipalities of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar and Artà, as well as Capdepera, and Manacor, to a lesser extent
Summary
Even considering the limiting factors regarding its insularity and the reduced surface of basins, it is affected by the same flood pattern described in the flash flood model with catastrophic consequences to the nearby continental areas. Those events have been historically recurrent (Grimalt, 1992) in the first years of the 21st century they were less devastating than in other geographical regions nearby such as Murcia (Romero and Castejón, 2014) or the surrounding European Mediterranean territories (Llasat et al, 2013).
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