Meteorologist Randi: «Such situations are difficult to predict»
The violent rains on the afternoon of May 15, one year after the 2023 flood, quickly caused urban and rural flooding, particularly in the Lower Romagna area of Lugo.
The urban and extra-urban drainage network (sewers, canals, ditches) did not withstand the enormous amounts of rain in a short time, as underlined by the meteorologist Pierluigi Randi (Ampro president and consultant of the Italia Meteo agency), recalling how today’s storms have nothing to do with last year’s flood, «so much so that on our Apennines it rained very little or not at all, so the impact on the rivers it is almost nil and there is no need to worry.”
«Unlike last year – continues Randi -, with continuous and insistent rains (over 30 hours for each of the two main events) over a very large area (half the region) and with enormous accumulations on the reliefs, today we are in full mesoscale , with very heavy rains (and even hail) in a short time (maximum 2 hours) and localized in the lowland areas (in some areas it almost didn’t rain).
Furthermore, situations like today’s are much more difficult to predict well in advance (the smaller and shorter a phenomenon is, the more difficult it is to predict). However, shortly after the storm everything goes back to normal.”
However, some numbers provided by Randi are important: Lugo between 60 and 65 mm; Bagnacavallo center 48mm; Bagnacavallo north 58 mm; Cotignola 40mm; Solarolo 43mm; Massa Lombarda 43 mm.
«So – he comments -, in less than two hours the rain fell which normally falls in those areas for the entire month of May, given that the climatological values are between 55 and 65 mm».
There could be a repeat on Thursday 16 May, with forecasts similar to those of 15 May in the afternoon.
