The 'Montserrat-2000' flash-flood event: A comparison with the floods that have occurred in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula since the 14th century

This paper presents an analysis of the flash floods that occurred in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula) on 10 June 2000, in the context of the historical floods recorded since the 14th century. The study starts with pluviometric and meteorological analyses (essentially synoptic and thermodynamic) of the episode. There follows a comparison of this event with previous floods for which we have instrumental information, information from archives, or both types of information. In some cases this permitted us to make a meteorological comparison of episodes similar to that of June 2000, and the complete series was used to carry out a frequency analysis of floods that have occurred in the basin under study. The conclusions show that although catastrophic flooding in spring is not as typical a phenomenon as autumn flooding, such floods have been recorded at least once each century, and it can be stated that the synoptic meteorological situation, where recorded, showed similar characteristics in all cases. Copyright (C) 2003 Royal Meteorological Society.