Severe flooding today in Catania, Sicily. At least two deceased and one missing person and significant material damage.
Yes, the floods in Catania, Sicily
from
24 Oct 2021 and onwards, have been pretty catastrophic - while pretty quiet in the international media reporting.
Due to powerful, large thunderstorm complex, of which one rose right over the area. In total and at the most
Etna Nord station reported
600 mm rain. Catania got 300+ mm on 25 Oct 2021 - because the complex weather pattern later shifted in such a way, that the thunderstorms moved constantly in from east to west, right against the coast of East Sicily (Syracusa, Augusta, Catania, Giarre).
In the town of
Lentini, just south of Catania, I remember that within
1 hour only - a whopping
147.4 mm came down, and 237 mm within 3 hours (24 Oct 2021)
This weather situation later spawned a
subtropical system "Apollo" - located south of Sicily - which now is active (28-29 Oct) affecting Sicily with more rain (up to 227 mm in Syracuse, today), but isn't as bad or particularly dramatic compared to the first storm event from 24-26 Oct, which lead to the widespread floods.
The above Facebook video, collects different footages from the flood events in Catania into one.
Especially the first scene, shows how the waters pour from the center of Catania (Piazza Duomo) into the (lower seated) fish market - truly impressive to watch ! Oh and yes, it happens at least once a year... albeit this time the total rainfalls where unusual high half the amount you get during a whole year - which happens perhaps 3+ times per decade (is my loose estimation)
Here below
you can see that extreme amounts of rain fell within 72 hours (24-26 Oct 2021)
After the flood 27 Oct 2021, near the harbor in the city of Catania, just a couple 100 meters away from wherer my husbands friend and ex-wife lives.
