Flooding Concerns for Southeast Europe during weekend

September 6, 2014 12:05 PM | Skymet Weather Team

An area of low pressure that moved across Italy on Monday and Tuesday with showers will stall over southeast Europe till the weekend. Showers and thunderstorms will continue the risk for flooding from the east coast of Italy into the Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria.

Daily downpours have already soaked the region and more rainfall is on the way. From Tuesday night into Wednesday, the heaviest rain fell from Albania into northern Greece, Macedonia and southwest Bulgaria where local amounts exceeded 100 millimeters (4 inches).

Through Thursday, the low will stall over southeast Europe leading to continued showers and thunderstorms. Additional rainfall of 25-50 millimeters (1-2 inches) is expected with local amounts over 75 millimeters (3 inches). Flooding will be the greatest threat; however, areas that have rugged terrain could also experience mudslides. Many locations in southern Europe received above-average rainfall through August, which only increased the threat for flooding from this most recent rainfall. Valjevo, Serbia, for instance, reported over 200 percent of normal rainfall during the month, totaling 181 millimeters (7.13 inches).

On Friday, showers and thunderstorms had become less widespread; however, due to prior rainfall, flooding will still be a concern across the region. The storm will continue to weaken over the weekend, diminishing the threat of widespread flooding problems. However, the storm system will continue to produce scattered showers and thunderstorms over the same region which could lead to some isolated flooding in areas that experienced the heaviest rainfall earlier in the week.

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