Validation of the coastal storm risk assessment framework along the Emilia-Romagna coast

Abstract

The Italian coasts are threatened by coastal flooding and erosion. The Emilia-Romagna region coastline is exposed to marine storms because of its low-lying nature and massive urbanization. Regional managers need comprehensive tools for coastal storm risk assessment. The RISC-KIT Coastal Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF) provides a conceptual framework, which includes hazard, exposure and vulnerability evaluation, to implement a screening process able to identify littoral zones that can be classified as hotspots (Phase 1) and to successively rank the identified hotspots to select the most critical ones (Phase 2). This study includes the results of the implementation of CRAF Phase 1 in the Emilia-Romagna coast. The method is based on a Coastal Index approach, calculated for 1 km length coastal sectors, applied taking into account both hazard and exposure indicators. The general methodology was partly modified thanks to the strong collaboration with the End-User (Servizio Geologico Sismico e dei Suoli, SGSS) which provided data, suggestions and comments at every step of the implementation. The SGSS also provided data to validate the outcomes of the CRAF methodology. Thus, the critical areas identified by the CRAF were compared with historical (1946–2010) storm impacts, resulting in a reasonable agreement between the identified hotspots.