another red alert, images of new catastrophic floods

The weeks follow one another and are similar during this fall of 2024 with a real ball of cold drops. A new depression of this type has circulated in the last few hours between Italy, France and the Iberian Peninsula. Now located off the coast of Portugal, the risk of bad weather will recede but the last few hours have been very turbulent again.

In Italy, it is Sicily and in particular the region of Catania which suffered rains of exceptional intensity. Up to 100 mm of precipitation fell in an hour in Riposto, north of Catania, for a total of 250 mm in a few hours. Reliable estimates even go up to 500 mm on the episode. These bad weather conditions caused torrential runoff in urban areas, river overflows and landslides.

Besides Italy, Spain has also been very affected in recent hours. During the day on Wednesday, it was in Andalusia where the rains were the most intense. The province of Malaga was the most affected with a stationary storm cell which generated intense precipitation and which, again, caused localized flooding.

In addition to the rains, thunderstorms were observed. Waterspouts also affected the coastline ofAndalusia. In this region placed on red alert, schools were closed and many trains were canceled. In less than two hours, the water sometimes rose up to 80 cm. It had been 37 years since the region had experienced such bad weather.

A little later in the day, the Tarragona region was also affected by the effects of the cold drop. Intense rains, floods and torrents were observed in this sector placed upstream on red alert. In the evening, the coast of Valencia was also placed on maximum alert. After a slight lull, a second cold drop will plunge from northern Europe to the eastern Mediterranean by this weekendand should lead to very heavy rains on Friday and Saturday, particularly on the eastern coast of Greece.