A compilation of data on European flash floodsA compilation of data on European flash floods Peer-Reviewed Journal Publication Δημοσίευση σε Περιοδικό με Κριτές 2015-11-092009enFlash floods are one of the most significant natural hazards in Europe, causing serious risk to life and destruction of buildings and infrastructure. This type of flood, often affecting ungauged watersheds, remains nevertheless a poorly documented phenomenon. To address the gap in available information, and particularly to assess the possible ranges for peak discharges on watersheds with area smaller than 500 km2 and to describe the geography of the hazard across Europe, an intensive data compilation has been carried out for seven European hydrometeorological regions. This inventory is the first step towards an atlas of extreme flash floods in Europe. It contains over 550 documented events. This paper aims at presenting the data compilation strategy, the content of the elaborated data base and some preliminary data analysis results. The initial observations show that the most extreme flash floods are greater in magnitude in the Mediterranean countries than in the inner continental countries and that there is a strong seasonality to flash flood occurrence revealing different climatic forcing mechanisms in each region.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Journal of Hydrology3671-270-78 Gaume Eric Bain Valerie Bernardara Pietro Newinger Olivier Barbuc Mihai Bateman Allen Blaškovičová Lotta Blöschl Günter Borga Marco Dumitrescu Alexandru Daliakopoulos Ioannis Δαλιακοπουλος Ιωαννης Garcia Joachim Irimescu Anisoara Kohnova Silvia Koutroulis Aristeidis Κουτρουλης Αριστειδης Marchi Lorenzo Matreata Simona Medina Vicente Preciso Emanuele Sempere-Torres Daniel Stancalie Gheorghe Szolgay Jan Tsanis Giannis Τσανης Γιαννης Velasco David Viglione Alberto Elsevier Hydrological modeling Hydrological models Hydrology--Models Hydrology models hydrologic models hydrological modeling hydrological models hydrology models