From our blog itPalermo

Storm in Palermo, on the day of Santa rosalia, to Palermo restaurants., his "protégé", was dramatic. On the day of party, the great event in honor of the Saint who this year it was not held, a sudden storm flooded the city. The so-called "water bomb" - said the Mayor Leoluca Orlando - "it is even the most violent rain since 1790". Yesterday in two hours a quantity of water fell "equal to that which falls in a year," said Orlando.

Palermo drowned

The inconveniences for citizenship were almost immediate. Between 130 and 150 mm of rain, concentrated in two hours of lightning and lightning, flooded various areas of the city in a short time. At first there was talk of two victims drowned in one of the underpasses of the expressway inside the city, Viale Regione Siciliana. The news has been denied only in the morning today with the recovery operations in the flooded areas. Dozens of cars that had remained completely submerged under water and which today have all been recovered (empty).

Submerged underpasses and blocked citizens

Since yesterday some witnesses involved in the maxi-flooding of the fast flow speak of two people trapped under water. Divers have yet to find anything to support these claims. Since yesterday the citizenship is in controversy with the administration and the specter of responsibility over what were "two sure victims" has further stirred the waters. Certainly there is the hospitalization of two children in hypothermic conditions due to prolonged contact with water in the car, near the ring road. Just as it is certain that the Palermo sewers are not prepared for similar events and not even for other much lighter ones.

No weather warnings on the storm in Palermo

The regional civil protection had not issued no weather warnings. For yesterday, the predicted level for weather conditions was colored Verde and with "generic vigilance". A situation complained by the Mayor of Palermo himself who immediately after the storm, in a post on Facebook, wrote: "If the alert had been issued, the ordinary procedures would have been activated which, despite the extraordinary nature of today's events, could have mitigated the risks".

Rap and Amap didn't act right away

What happens when an alert level is issued starting with yellow? There Rap, the company that deals with waste, and theAmap, the municipal company that also controls the manholes, would have activated an extraordinary preventive mobilization. The procedures are directly linked to the weather alert which, as already mentioned, has not been fixed and widespread, both due to the unexpected exceptionality and the speed of the storm phenomenon. Many manholes blown up in different areas of the city, traffic haywire since yesterday, crazy and overflowing social networks of historians, meteorologists and jackals (top trends on Twitter just an hour after the storm).

storm in Palermo - flooded area

The data from the meteorological hut on top of the Pisan tower, in the Royal Palace, describe an event that is incredible. In two hundred years of observation and recording, never had a July like this ever been seen. Added to this is that in two hours it rained more or less a fifth of the rain that falls in an "average" year for the Sicilian capital. It had never rained this much since 1797. Looking at the rainfall data, however, we realize that Palermo has some familiarity with floods and floods. From the great floods to the time of the Arabs up to the Thirties when the historic center saw its “submerged” (and suppressed) rivers on the surface.

Rain and devastation in many areas

They've been over 300 interventions by the Fire Brigade, including the eviction of several homes. The firefighters evacuated some buildings at risk of collapse between via Marabitti and via Spedalieri. In some buildings there are cracks that have even prevented some doors from closing. In the Baida area - a high and mountainous area of ​​Palermo - a torrent of water and mud dragged some cars for hundreds of meters. The same happened in the same fast scrolling, the negative protagonist of the videos that arrived on television and on the web.

"What has happened must push us even further to deep reflection" declares Leoluca Orlando referring to that "model of development that is increasingly altering the relationship between man and the environment and the climate of our planet". "In these moments - Orlando reiterated - the whole municipal machine is committed to addressing this unannounced emergency with maximum commitment and professionalism".

Palermo under the storm: never so much rain last edit: 2020-07-16T13:30:00+02:00 da Daniele Monteleone

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