Developing a large-scale dataset of flood fatalities for territories in the Euro-Mediterranean region, FFEM-DB

This data paper describes the multinational Database of Flood Fatalities from the Euro-Mediterranean region FFEM-DB that hosts data of 2,875 flood fatalities from 12 territories (nine of which represent entire countries) in Europe and the broader Mediterranean region from 1980 to 2020. The FFEM-DB database provides data on fatalities’ profiles, location, and contributing circumstances, allowing researchers and flood risk managers to explore demographic, behavioral, and situational factors, as well as environmental features of flood-related mortality.

The standardized data collection and classification methodology enable comparison between regions beyond administrative boundaries. The FFEM-DB is expandable, regularly updated, publicly available, and with anonymized data. The key advantages of the FFEM-DB compared to existing datasets containing flood fatalities are its high level of detail, data accuracy, record completeness, and the large sample size from an extended area. The extensive geographical area of the FFEM-DB dataset offers the opportunity to:

• Compare flood mortality in different geomorphological settings (e.g., flat areas of Germany or the Czech Republic against the high-inclination areas of Greece or Italy), as well as in different landcover and urbanization settings.
• Compare flood mortality and death circumstances among areas with different policies and measures aiming to address flood risk mitigation, such as through driving education, road network management, risk signage, and the adaptation of impact-based warnings.
• Examine the impact of risk mitigation policies and initiatives on flood mortality. For example, our dataset can be used to compare an area/country that uses a “turn around don’t drown” – type of awareness campaign with an area/country that does not, in terms of vehicle-related flood fatalities, as a complementary criterion on the efficiency of such campaigns.