Figure 1: Number of EFAS formal (red), informal (yellow) and flash flood (blue) notifications issued in 2019
Figure 1: Number of EFAS formal (red), informal (yellow) and flash flood (blue) notifications issued in 2019

by EFAS dissemination centre

Figure 1 shows the number of formal, informal and flash flood notifications issued each month throughout 2019. With a total number of 1496 EFAS notifications 2019 was by far the busiest of the past five years for the EFAS consortium. Compared to 2018 the Dissemination Center issued 19% more formal, 19% more informal and 279% more flash flood notifications. November was the most active month with 337 notifications, which is about 23% of the total number of notifications of 2019. December saw the most formal notifications issued, while the periods from February till April and July till September were relatively quiet in terms of flood notifications. In total 175 formal, 115 informal and 1206 flash flood notifications were issued in 2019.

Remarkable periods in 2019 were the second and third week of January with floods in Greece and Spain, the first and the third week of May with large spread floods over Romania, the Balkan and the Elbe and Danube catchments in Slovakia and Germany and the months of November and December with an enormous amount of notifications for France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

For comparison, Figure 2 indicates the total number of EFAS notifications issued per year for the past 7 years. 2019 was a very wet year for all three types of notifications, but the increase in flash flood notifications was sensational.

Figure 2: Total number of EFAS formal (red), informal (yellow) and flash flood (blue) notifications issued per year from 2013-2019
Figure 2: Total number of EFAS formal (red), informal (yellow) and flash flood (blue) notifications issued per year from 2013-2019

Figure 3 breaks down the number of notifications over the past 7 years into seasons (December-January-February [DJF], March-April-May [MAM], June-July-August [JJA] and September-October-November [SON]).

The most active seasons in terms of river flooding over the past 7 years were all beaten by the year 2019. The reason for that is the amount of flash flood notifications that has been issued in all seasons of 2019. If you only look at formal and informal notifications, then the most active seasons were the winter of 2016, the spring of 2018 and the summer and autumn of 2019.

Figure 3: Number of EFAS (red), informal (orange) and flash flood (blue) notifications issued per season over the past 7 years (2013-20219)
Figure 3: Number of EFAS (red), informal (orange) and flash flood (blue) notifications issued per season over the past 7 years (2013-20219)

Based on the number of notifications issued from 2013-2019, the most formal flood notifications are issued in spring (29 per year on average), informal notifications in winter (26 per year on average) and flash flood notifications in autumn (126 per year on average). The season with the fewest formal notifications is the summer (about 7 per year on average).

In 2019 in total 37 countries received 1496 notifications (175 formal, 115 informal and 1206 flash flood notifications). Italy received the highest number of notifications (14 formal, 18 informal and 150 flash flood notifications). The most formal notifications were sent to France (32), followed by Spain (31), the most informal notifications to the United Kingdom (20) and the most flash flood notifications to Italy (150), followed by Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom (all about 120).