«Extreme phenomena». Today there is an orange alert in Milan and Lombardy: maximum attention on the rivers of the Lombardy capital. For the Seveso the rolling tank in Bresso to protect the neighborhoods of Isola, Niguarda, Maggiolina and Pratocentario. Lambro, on the other hand, is flooded around 10.30 in the morning: the firefighters say that the situation is “permanently controlled and monitored”, even if it is causing flooding and inconvenience. In fact, from the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, torrential rains began and, consequently, problems in all areas of the city. Hundreds of calls to the fire brigade due to cellars full of water, cars blocked on the street and pedestrian accidents. The underpass in Via Pompeo Leoni was flooded: the firefighters intervened to make two people in a car safe. Heavy rains caused flooding at the Bertarelli Ferraris Institute, where water passes through too old fixtures but also drips from the ceiling in some laboratories, putting at risk equipment worth thousands of euros, purchased with Pnrr funds. A problem that has already been reported for some time by schools to institutions.
Traffic at a standstill and trains cancelled
A true storm that is paralyzing Milan: traffic is at a standstill. The ATM transport company communicated the deviations and slowdowns of surface vehicles for the flooding and for the branches fallen on the rails: «Buses 45, 66 and 88/ which pass through via Vittorini are diverted due to the flooding of the road, in the Ponte Lambro area and, again on the surface transport lines, the lines Tram lines 2,3 and 9 are interrupted due to flooding of interchanges in other areas of the city.” (Transport information here). Problemsalways caused by bad weather, in the section between the Milano Forlanini and Pioltello stations have caused a nightmare morning for commuters: major delays and Trains canceled on several lines crossing the Passante. Problems on the Milan-Novara, Milan-Varese routes and the line to Chiasso.
The weather forecast
The forecast for the rest of the day and for tomorrow, Thursday 16 May, is no better. The experts from - spoke about «thunderstorms, hailstorms, strong gusts of wind”. In short, of possible “extreme phenomena”. (Here is the weather forecast for May 15th and 16th).
Civil Protection interventions
«A lot of rain tonight in the Seveso and Lambro basins and in Milan – wrote Marco Granelli, Councilor for Security, on his social profile -. At 6.30 on Wednesday we activated the Milan tank against the flooding of the Seveso, to protect the city’s neighborhoods. Lambro is also very tall, at 2.50 metres. Last night we evacuated the communities. In the city the underpasses all work, even if there are many puddles.” The alert began on Tuesday at 6pm, but changed from yellow to orange in a few hours: «The communities of Lambro Park were evacuated. The underpasses and various areas of the city that suffer possible temporary flooding with intense rain are also monitored.” And it is precisely the Lambro that is now causing the most concern: it has reached very high levels and MM, Civil Protection and local police have been sent to the scene.
Varese, closed roads and houses without light
It was a night of great work for the Varese firefighters called to intervene due to the heavy rains that hit the entire province, with tree cuts, landslides and above all flooding. The most serious situation was recorded in Vergiatein via Corgeno where in the night four homes were left without electricity and flooded: six water pumps went into action sucking around 6 thousand liters of water per minute to try to bring the situation back to normal. Again due to the heavy rainfall during the night, the firefighters were busy in Casorate Sempione due to the flooding of an underpass, which remained closed, and due to a landslide which affected the roadway at the «Grotte di Valganna» in Induno Olona: Anas which temporarily established an alternating one-way system on state road 233. Another landslide occurred in Varese in via Torquato Tasso in the «Cartabbia» area with the road temporarily closed to traffic awaiting restoration by the Municipality. Again in the Gavirate area, the swelling of a stream forced urgent intervention to avoid flooding of provincial road 1 that runs along Lake Varese. In all there were around forty rescue interventions, with several dozen calls still waiting on Wednesday morning: the regional civil protection had issued an orange alert also active in the north-western sectors of Lombardy due to hydrogeological risk. The rainfall was intense and abundant: the control unit of the Pre-Alpine Geophysical Center of Varese detected more than 95 millimeters of rain falling from midnight until mid-morning on Wednesday, with an intensity of just over 7 millimeters per hour. The forecast is for rain throughout the day on Wednesday and Thursday, even heavy, with still unstable weather for Friday.
