Draft:2023 European floods
 | This is a draft article. It is a work in progress open to editing by anyone. Please ensure core content policies are met before publishing it as a live Wikipedia article. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL Last edited by Joy (talk | contribs) 2 months ago. (Update)
Finished drafting? or |
The 2023 European floods occurred in May in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Croatia, Austria and Serbia, in August in Slovenia, Austria, Norway and Sweden, in September in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Libya and in December in Germany.
May
[edit]The low pressure systems Andreas and Minerva caused severe storms with heavy rain in the Mediterranean region, leading to flooding in Italy and the Balkans. Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were also affected.
Italy
[edit]Italy Since the beginning of May 2023, floods and landslides occurred in the Emilia-Romagna region. Several rivers overflowed their banks and flooded entire towns. In the city of Bologna, many flooded roads were closed, and rail traffic came to a standstill in many places.[1]
On May 15, 2023, the low-pressure system 'Minerva' approached Italy from the south, bringing gale-force winds and, at times, heavy rainfall to the island of Sicily.[2] Beaches in the municipalities of Ravenna and Cervia were closed due to dangerously high waves. The Formula 1 race in Imola on May 21, 2023, was canceled due to the heavy rains and flooding.[3] According to an attribution study, a rainfall event like the one observed in the region has a probability of 0.5% annually, thus occurring with a frequency of 200 years.[4]
Croatia
[edit]After days of heavy rain, flooding has caused damage in parts of Croatia. The town of Hrvatska Kostajnica, 90 kilometers south of Zagreb, was flooded. The Una River, a tributary of the Sava, burst its banks. Civil defense and the volunteer fire department built dams made of sandbags.[5]
Austria
[edit]Numerous regions in Austria were hit by persistent rain. In the Zillertal, a valley in Tyrol, a landslide made a part of the municipality of Schwendau accessible only on foot.
August
[edit]
A low pressure system called 'Zacharias' caused severe storms, rainfall and damage.
There were floods and landslides, particularly in Slovenia and Austria.
September
[edit]Storm Daniel' caused heavy rain and flooding from September 4 to 7, killing at least 27 people in Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. It then moved southwest, hitting the Libyan coast on September 10, causing at least 2,000 deaths after Derna dams collapsed.
December
[edit]Starting around Christmas, heavy rains caused flooding in northern Germany. Several towns were evacuated.
References
[edit]- ^ "Tote und Evakuierungen nach Überschwemmungen in Italien". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ "Tief «Minerva» - Unwetter in Italien". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ "Unwetter in Italien". www.adac.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2023-07-24. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ Barnes, Clair; Faranda, Davide; Coppola, Erika; Grazzini, Federico; Zachariah, Mariam; Lu, Chen; Kimutai, Joyce; Pinto, Izidine; Pereira, Carolina Marghidan; Sengupta, Sayanti; Vahlberg, Maja; Singh, Roop; Heinrich, Dorothy; Otto, Friederike (2023-05-31). "Limited net role for climate change in heavy spring rainfall in Emilia-Romagna". doi:10.25561/104550. hdl:10044/1/104550.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Nach Regenfällen: Überschwemmungen in Kroatien | Weather.com". The Weather Channel (in German). Retrieved 2025-07-18.
External links
[edit]