Between the 16 and 17 of May 2023, two weeks after the first extreme weather event, a second one brought destruction and death to the Emilia-Romagna region.

Emilia-Romagna is also the region where SaferPlaces is based.

Our technology provides intelligence on flood risk, to quickly map both potentially floodable areas and the economic damage, building by building, caused by extreme events. Forecasting such events with a high-level of precision is crucial to understanding the risks of an area and how to act accordingly. For this reason, SaferPlaces collaborated with the Civil Defense in Emilia-Romagna and previously also provided assistance in drafting the General Urban Plan for more than 20 municipalities between the areas of Bassa Romagna, Romagna Faentina and Riviera Romagnola.

Today.it published our flood simulations for both flooding events that hit the region since the beginning of May. The maps were generated post-event, but the platform is usable in real time, which is why it was used to help Civil Defense with evacuations. The images reported on the article show a comparison between the high probability flooding areas predicted by SaferPlaces and the actual flooded areas in the affected cities, which are reproduced with surprising fidelity and high detail by our algorithms.

Due to climate change, these kinds of extreme weather events will unfortunately become more frequent and intense, highlighting the need for adequate tools, data, and knowledge to face them, in order to save lives, prevent economic losses, and design more resilient cities.