Costal flood risk in Emilia-Romagna (Italy): the sea storm of February 2015

Abstract

The Emilia-Romagna Region has developed an integrated system for the management of sea-storm risk based on agreements between different public authorities and industry, on cartographic products and IT services. A sea-storm occurred on 6 February 2015 offered the opportunity to test the part of the operative chain responsible for data collection, monitoring and analysis of the impacts, which belongs to the regional geological service (SGSS) and to improve the knowledge about the phenomenon. The forecast models have predicted two days before the severity of the event and the Civil Protection issued a prompt warning. It was activated immediately the observation procedure and the data collection, including remote sensing information (photos and movies), those were invaluable for the analysis of the impacts and for the creation of dedicated maps. Besides, it was possible to check the flood hazard maps of the Directive 2007/60, confirming the strength of the adopted model.