Just after 3am, I woke to a noise that sounded remarkably like a big building collapsing. The boom of it echoed through the caruggi, the narrow alleyways here.
I lay there, not really wanting to think about what it might have been. Soon after, it happened again. Thunder? I got up to look and discovered yes, thunder, lightning and heavy rain. I went back to bed hoping that the flash floods of last week had cleared streams and pathways so that this torrential rain might cause less problems ... then realised it may still be a case of a lot of water cascading down from the hills above the city, overflowing streams and streets ... and I hoped not.
I lay there, listening, hoping that this was more about the sound and the fury of a storm and less about many mm’s of rain in a short period of time.
5am, I woke up to the crashing of thunder and wondered if it was the same storm or a new one.
6.50am, I gave in and got up. The storm continues and is incredibly noisy. Perhaps it is trapped between the high hills of Genova and the sea. It’s not going away.
I remembered Cinque Terre were concerned about this next lot of heavy rain, I don’t know if Genova needs to be too but it doesn’t seem like the best kind of weather for a city so recently hit by serious flooding.
Genova’s Righicam gives you a peek in at the weather and the weather forecast it links to tells me that there is a 100% chance of rain until 11am, easing to a 90% chance of light rain from about 5pm.
So, today one might be sure in the knowledge that it’s going to rain. Reassuringly ... surprisingly, I can hear people in the alley below. Hardy souls out with umbrellas on their way to work I guess. It’s still dark, except for those moments when lightning fills the sky.
Kate, an American who has been living in Cinque Terre for years, posted an email she initially began writing for friends and family ... after realising they seemed to have no idea of how bad things are here in Italy. So many Americans have wandered through, and fallen in love, with Cinque Terre that she and other American bloggers living in the area were disappointed by the lack of coverage the devastation in their area is getting. They’re encouraging donations to Red Cross
I have to admit to being worried if Cinque Terre is receiving the rain we’ve been having here in Genova these last few hours, and yet I don’t want to be alarmist. This isn’t my country and it’s not my landscape. Unlike the corners of New Zealand I lived in, I don’t know the area well enough to understand whether it can cope with the rainfall we’re having right now. I guess it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing, hoping that those in authority here in the city get the warnings out this time and no more lives are lost because the 10-20% of Genova that is down low or situated in the flat places may be taking a hammering now.
I took this photograph down at the ruin of the ancient temple yesterday.