Reconstruction of the 1874 <i>Santa Tecla</i>'s rainstorm in Western Catalonia (NE Spain) from flood marks and historical accounts

Balasch, J. C.; Ruiz-Bellet, J. L.; Tuset, J.; Martín de Oliva, J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-10-2317-2010

Articles | Volume 10, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-10-2317-2010

© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-10-2317-2010

© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 11

Research article

|

19 Nov 2010

Research article |

| 19 Nov 2010

Reconstruction of the 1874 Santa Tecla's rainstorm in Western Catalonia (NE Spain) from flood marks and historical accounts

J. C. Balasch, J. L. Ruiz-Bellet, J. Tuset, and J. Martín de Oliva

Abstract. The Santa Tecla flash flood, a very heavy event occurred in western Catalonia (NE Spain) in 1874, was reconstructed with hydraulic and hydrological modelling tools in three basins. The hydrograph obtained in a first step and the basin soil moisture information ultimately allowed the estimation of the range of the rainstorm magnitude which caused the flash flood. The reconstruction of historical floods has proved useful to improve the flood probability analysis, especially in ungauged basins.

Received: 21 Jul 2010 – Revised: 29 Oct 2010 – Accepted: 04 Nov 2010 – Published: 19 Nov 2010