Tuscany orange storm alert eases as Campania stays under yellow warning until Saturday noon

Tuscany and Liguria ease after 24 hours of rain

After 24 hours of nearly continuous rain, the storm system appears to be losing strength over northwestern Tuscany and the lower Spezia area in Liguria, according to AGI's morning report on Friday, 13 November. Conditions in Tuscany were cloudy or very cloudy, with scattered showers and locally heavy downpours or thunderstorms, and the regional forecast pointed to improvement from late afternoon. Regional authorities nonetheless kept the civil protection system on maximum alert because of hydrogeological risk.

Tuscany's regional president, Eugenio Giani, said the whole system had been put on alert and that the region was in contact with the organisations and public order forces ready to act in the provinces and municipalities.

“The entire Tuscan civil protection system is on alert.”

Watched basins and the national picture

Tuscany's civil protection authorities kept several river basins under close watch for possible flooding, overflowing ditches and smaller streams, and localised landslides. The list included Versilia, Lunigiana, Garfagnana, the Serchio, Lima, the Ombrone Pistoiese, the Reno valley, the Bisenzio and the Arno. Nationally, AGI reported an orange alert in 5 regions and a yellow alert in 12 that day. Orange was in force in parts of Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio, while yellow covered the rest of Umbria and Lazio, parts of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Basilicata and Calabria, and the entire territory of Marche, Abruzzo, Molise and Campania.

Orange alert5

Yellow alert12

Orange alert

5 regions

Yellow alert

12 regions

Data from the article text

Tuscany's alert steps down

The regional civil protection room kept northern Tuscany on orange for hydraulic risk until midnight on Friday, 13 November, covering Garfagnana, the Serchio basin, the Bisenzio and the Ombrone Pistoiese. From 18:00 that Friday, the orange alert was downgraded to yellow for the rest of northern Tuscany. That yellow alert runs until 08:00 on Saturday, 14 November, or until the phenomena fade, and in the Lower Valdarno down to the coast it stays in force until 14:00. Central Tuscany stayed on yellow and southern Tuscany had no alerts.

Campania: yellow alert and closures in Naples

The regional civil protection service issued a yellow weather alert for all of Campania, valid from 15:00 on Friday, 13 November until 12:00 on Saturday, 14 November. Forecasters expected isolated or local rain, possibly with thunderstorms, easing from Saturday morning, along with possible sea surges on exposed coasts. The warning cites a regional meteorological bulletin from the decentralised functional centre. Possible hazards listed include surface runoff carrying debris, flooding of basements and ground-floor rooms, water on roads, backed-up drainage systems, rising river levels with flooding of nearby areas, and rockfalls or landslides in fragile terrain. In Naples, parks will stay closed and access to public city beaches is banned until the alert ends.

Sequence of alert changes

The alert changes in Tuscany and Campania follow a fixed timetable. Campania's yellow alert started at 15:00 on Friday, 13 November. Northern Tuscany was downgraded from orange to yellow at 18:00 the same day, after the orange level had run until midnight in the most exposed basins. The Tuscan yellow alert is set to end at 08:00 on Saturday, 14 November, with the Lower Valdarno exception until 14:00, and Campania's alert expires at 12:00 that day.