Resume-these-O-Payrastre

AbstractPossibility and usefulness of historical flood series reconstruction, for thestudy of extreme floods in small watersheds. Case study of four smalltributaries of the Aude River, FranceThis study deals with the estimation of flash floods frequency, in small watersheds of theFrench mediterranean area. In order to improve statistical analysis of these events, the ideadevelopped was to gather, in the mesure of possible, historical information about floods overa two centuries period. Four small tributaries of the Aude river (south-east of France) were2studied. Each of them has a catchment area of less than 200 km . For historical informationgathering, a methodology that already gave successful results in the case of larger French riverswas applied. Using this methodology it was possible to identify archive sources that were of realinterest to the particular case of small watersheds. These sources are essentially local archive col-lections (Archives Départementales, archives from hydrometry and flood warning services). Onthe other hand, National archives collections (Archives Nationales, M.Pardé collection, and theENPC’s historical collection) contained little useful information, and archives from newspaperswere equally disappointing. Archive documents that were finally used, come essentially from the“Services des Ponts et Chaussées” or the “Services Vicinaux” (archives located in the S and Oseries in the Archives Départementales collection). Nevertheless, in ...