Debris flows in Val Parma and Val Baganza (Northern Apennines) during the October 2014 alluvial event in Parma Province (Italy)

Abstract

During the October 2014 alluvial event in Parma province, which also caused the city of Parma to be partially flooded, several debris flows affected the upper Val Parma and Val Baganza (northern Apennines, Italy) causing severe and widespread damages to check-dams, roads and other infrastructures. The meteorological event reached intensities as high as 80 mm/hour, which is well above the thresholds presented in literature for the alpine area. The result was the occurrence of tens of debris flow along the Mt. Cervellino – Mt. Vitello relief, which were triggered in zones of failure of slope debris coverage along the streams, remobilized and scoured debris along the track and destroyed several check dams and damaged roads that were overflown by debris. Since debris flows in the northern Apennines are considered quite rare events, their hazard is generally underestimated or overlooked. The event in the Parma province, at the opposite, warns against this potentially destructive events that, in a changing meteorological framework, might result much more frequent and widespread than expected also in the northern Apennines.