The flood events of September 2022 in the Marche region (Italy): meteo-climatic and geomorphological-hydraulic analysis

This article analyzes the extreme rainfall event of September 15, 2022, in the Marche region (Italy) which caused wide-spread floodings in the provinces of Ancona and Pesaro Ur-bino causing destruction for 2 billion euros, 50 people in-jured, hundreds of displaced people and, unfortunately, 13 human losses. The event has been analyzed from a meteo-climatic and ge-omorphological-hydraulic perspective, based on the available rainfall and satellite data, and the traditional method of the on-field surveys aimed at geomorphological post-event map-ping has been applied. All the information was collected in a GIS database containing all the cartographic data and it has been implemented with the help of technological innovation coming from satellite images, drone surveys, lidar acquisi-tion, and numerical models. All the work was finalized to produce a “critical issue cartography” that mapped all the ge-omorphological-hydraulic situations encountered that were caused by the flood or played a key role in trigger-ing/amplifying the phenomena. After that, our research group produced a “suggested intervention map” aimed at proposing interventions to mitigate the risk, very useful for getting an idea of the damage and expediting the Italian government's start of restoration works. The analysis confirms the excep-tional nature of the event, which was certainly amplified by widespread and repeated practices of mismanagement of the land. Italy is suffering from decades of building in unsuitable areas, buried waterways, undersized embankments, and bridges, lack of surface water regulation works, and absent river maintenance. This research highlighted land vulnerabil-ity and the need to employ actions considering new rainfall models imposed by climate change.