The effects of extreme weather on the European transport system: An analysis based on media reports

The aim of this study was to find links between extreme weather events and the regional vulnerability of transportation in Europe. The same meteorological phenomenon has different impacts on societies due to their geographic or climatic locations, topography, geological environment as well as social and technological vulnerability. This fact directed us to approach the question of 'extreme weather event' by using local and nationwide media reports as empirical material. Implicitly, media reports also reflect weather events that are relevant from the society's viewpoint. There are several definitions of the concept 'extreme weather event', mainly determined on contextual grounds and mostly through a meteorological or societal frame. In our study, we use the term 'extreme event' to describe the severe weather event that cause extensive impacts on transportation network in European countries. We focused on atmospheric-originated phenomena and their impacts and excluded from our definition the severe events which can be regarded climatologic, such as global warming, as well as natural disasters (volcano eruptions, tsunamis etc).