EUropean Flood Fatalities (EUFF) database 1980-2018 (updated)

Abstract

The first version of EUFF (EUropean Flood Fatalities) contained 2466 FFs which occurred during a 39-year period (1980–2018) in 8 Euro-Mediterranean countries that are further divided into 9 study areas (Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, South France, Catalonia and Balearic Islands). This database is an updated version of EUFF, improved throughout the introduction of new data and details of flood fatalities emerged from ongoing historical research in the Czech Republic and South France study areas. EUFF contains 2483 flood fatalities, which occurred during the same period (1980–2018) in the above-mentioned study areas. The methodological approach is based on the systematic collection of data about floods that killed any people, which are named here as flood events. All cases of flood events triggered by rainfall were included, without severity thresholds: EUFF contains all the cases of flood events, independently of the number of fatalities per flood event. The methodological approach was based on the systematic collection of fatal events descriptions from documentary sources as newspapers, websites, and technical reports. Narratives of flood events were disaggregated in database fields describing victim’s profile and the circumstances of the deaths. Each record contains data related to a single flood fatality, organized in fields with information about event (place, date, and hour), fatality (age, gender, conditions, residency, and activity), and victim-event interactions (accident place, accident dynamic, death causes, protective and/or hazardous behaviours). EUFF database represents a source of data contributing to a better understanding of the population exposure to floods. The EUFF database, with its great potential to be extended spatially and temporally, represents a unique European database with high scientific and practical potential. One aspect of the database is its vitality, as we strive to improve it by extending the study period, and enlarging the domain. The EUFF database and its potential will hopefully motivate and encourage further researchers to join this database with data on flood fatalities available in their countries