TY - JOUR

T1 - Historical flash floods in England

T2 - new regional chronologies and database

AU - Archer, David

AU - O'donnell, Greg

AU - Lamb, Rob

AU - Warren, Sarah

AU - Fowler, Hayley J.

N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Archer D, O'Donnell G, Lamb R, Warren S, Fowler HJ. Historical flash floods in England: New regional chronologies and database. J Flood Risk Management. 2019;e12526. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12526 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfr3.12526 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

PY - 2019/10/1

Y1 - 2019/10/1

N2 - There is increasing interest in past occurrences of flooding from intense rainfall, commonly referred to as “flash flooding,” and the associated socioeconomic consequences. Historical information can help us to place recent events in context and to understand the effect of low frequency climate variability on changing flash flood frequencies. Previous studies have focussed on fluvial flooding to reconstruct the temporal and spatial patterns of past events. Here, we provide an online flood chronology for the north and south‐west of England for flash floods, including both surface water and fluvial flooding, with coverage from ~1700 to ~2013 (http://ceg-fepsys.ncl.ac.uk/fc). The primary source of documentary material is local newspaper reports, which often give detailed descriptions of impacts. This provides a new resource to inform communities and first responders of flood risks, especially those from rapid rise in water level whose severity may be greater than those of accompanying peak flow. Examples are provided of historical flash floods that exemplify how the chronologies can help to place recent floods in the context of the preinstrumental record for: (a) more robust estimates of event return period, (b) identification of catchment or settlement susceptibility to flash flood events, and (c) characterisation of events in ungauged catchments.

AB - There is increasing interest in past occurrences of flooding from intense rainfall, commonly referred to as “flash flooding,” and the associated socioeconomic consequences. Historical information can help us to place recent events in context and to understand the effect of low frequency climate variability on changing flash flood frequencies. Previous studies have focussed on fluvial flooding to reconstruct the temporal and spatial patterns of past events. Here, we provide an online flood chronology for the north and south‐west of England for flash floods, including both surface water and fluvial flooding, with coverage from ~1700 to ~2013 (http://ceg-fepsys.ncl.ac.uk/fc). The primary source of documentary material is local newspaper reports, which often give detailed descriptions of impacts. This provides a new resource to inform communities and first responders of flood risks, especially those from rapid rise in water level whose severity may be greater than those of accompanying peak flow. Examples are provided of historical flash floods that exemplify how the chronologies can help to place recent floods in the context of the preinstrumental record for: (a) more robust estimates of event return period, (b) identification of catchment or settlement susceptibility to flash flood events, and (c) characterisation of events in ungauged catchments.

U2 - 10.1111/jfr3.12526

DO - 10.1111/jfr3.12526

M3 - Journal article

VL - 12

JO - Journal of Flood Risk Management

JF - Journal of Flood Risk Management

SN - 1753-318X

IS - 51

M1 - e12526

ER -