Tourist activity and floods on the southern coast of Gran Canaria. An induced risk?

Abstract

The south coast of Gran Canaria has suffered considerable changes due to construction of tourist-related infrastructure since 1962. The construction process has also induced changes in the geomorphological system. The aim of this paper is to determine whether or not there is a connection between the building of tourist-related establishments and the increase in recent decades, of damage caused by flooding. A temporal analysis (from 1951 to the present) comparing heavy rains and the resulting flood damage has been carried out. The results of show that a recent increase in damage caused by flooding is explained by the way in which urban expansion and its associated infrastructure has been implemented.