Flash flood deaths on the rise

Fatalities resulting from flash floods are on the rise in Greece, according to a new survey which points to an increase in annual deaths from flood-related deaths as well as in the average number of deaths per event.

A total of 156 deaths were associated with 56 flash floods between 1980 and 2018, an average of 2.8 deaths per flash flood. Most fatalities were recorded during November each year. The findings were presented at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), a Washington-based nonprofit, in San Francisco last week.

The data was analyzed by experts from the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development at the National Observatory of Athens who drew on 39 years (1980-2018) of records in the EUropean Flood Fatalities (EUFF) database.