More Rain to Impact Cleanup Efforts on Italian Island of Sardinia

By Mark Paquette

November 30,2013; 9:15PM,EST

 

 

Another storm will impact Sardinia Sunday and Monday with a steady rain amounting to another 15-30 mm (0.60-1.20 inches) expected.
Prior to impacting Sardinia, this storm will drop heavy rain across the Italian Peninsula through this weekend. Santa Maria Di Leuca, located on the southern tip of Italy, has picked up 31 mm (1.22 inches) of rain through Saturday evening with more expected into the beginning of the upcoming week.
Infrared satellite image from Saturday night, courtesy of the United Kingdom Met Office, shows another storm impacting portions of Italy.
Rainfall could be heavy enough to cause flooding across central and southern Italy, including Sicily. A solid 30 to 75 mm (1.00 to 3.00 inches) of rain is expected through this weekend with some isolated amounts over 100 mm across Italy's southern peninsula through Tuesday.
Rain will spread westward on Sunday reaching Sardinia and continue through Monday.
While the rain is not expected to bring much additional flooding problems in Sardinia, it will likely cause hardships for the people displaced from their homes and slow both rescue and cleanup efforts.
Over the time period of Nov. 18 through the Nov. 23, heavy rain fell that resulted in widespread flooding killed at least 16 people on the Italian island of Sardinia, with two other people missing who are feared dead as well, according to CNN.
Parts of the island received six months' worth of rainfall -- 450 mm (more than 17 inches) -- in 12 hours. From Nov. 18 to Nov. 23, the capital city of Cagliari had over 40 mm (1.60 inches) of rain. Normal rainfall for the entire month of November is 52 mm (2.05 inches). The heaviest rain fell north of the city.
In this AP photo taken on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, a truck and a bus are stranded by flood waters in a tunnel near Olbia, Italy.
More than 2,500 people were displaced from their homes, according to Italy's Civil Protection Agency. Houses were filled with a mixture of water, sand and rubbish. Travel was difficult due to numerous road closures.
Meteorologists Erik Pindrock and Dave Samuhel contributed to the content of this story.