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History of floods in Greece: causes and measures for protection

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Abstract

Floods as diachronic and international phenomena affect numerous people, buildings and infrastructure. Throughout human history, floods are the most lethal and have caused more economic losses than other natural disasters. In this review, the history of floods is considered focusing in ancient Greece since the early Bronze Age. Ancient Greeks avoided living near lakes and rivers probably for hygiene reasons and protection from floods. Representative impressive hydraulic anti-flooding works including dams, walls, channels from different cities and other settlements in the Minoan era, and the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman period are presented. It is concluded that the risk with respect to flood events is more severe today than in ancient times. The ongoing urbanization and deforestation through the centuries have led to an increasing and unmanageable flood risk. For this reason, a set of special measures should be applied in vulnerable areas aiming to mitigate severe damages that floods might cause, including anti-flooding dams, water flow diverting technologies, rainwater harvesting and rain gardens for stormwater retention, reforestation and other smart environmental strategies. The examples of anti-flood hydro-technologies described in this paper may have some relevance for water engineering even in modern times.

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Acknowledgements

A portion of the material presented in this paper was presented at the 5th IWA International Symposium on Water Technologies in Ancient Civilizations “Evolution of technologies from prehistory to modern times,” Dead Sea, Jordan, September 11–13, 2019, and published in its proceedings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HAO-Demeter, Agricultural Research Institution of Crete, 71300, Iráklion, Greece

    A. N. Angelakis

  2. Union of Water Supply and Sewerage Enterprises, 41222, Larissa, Greece

    A. N. Angelakis

  3. Department of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, 11474, Athens, Greece

    G. Antoniou

  4. Laboratory of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloníki, Greece

    K. Voudouris & N. Kazakis

  5. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

    N. Dalezios

  6. Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    N. Dercas

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  1. A. N. Angelakis
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Correspondence to K. Voudouris.

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Angelakis, A.N., Antoniou, G., Voudouris, K. et al. History of floods in Greece: causes and measures for protection. Nat Hazards 101, 833–852 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03898-w

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