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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />Friday, July 12 <br /> <br />8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. <br /> <br />Flooding in Urban Areas in Sicily <br />During the Storms of March 13, 1995 <br /> <br />G. Rossi, A. Cancelliere, and E. Foti <br />University of Catania <br /> <br />Several catastrophic events due to severe storms (either in intensity and/or duration) occurred <br />in Italy in the last years. A significant part of the damages have been caused by flooding in <br />small urban drainage basins, besides by inundations in large river valleys. In this paper the <br />catastrophic events of March 13, 1995, which struck the eastern art of the mount Etna area near <br />Catania (Sicily) and caused heavy damages and six deaths in three municipalities (Giarre, <br />Mascali, Acireale) is analyzed. After a reconstruction of the time and space distribution of the <br />storm, the very high excedence probability of the event is assessed and the main causes of deaths <br />and damages to infrastructures, commercial activities and private properties are reported and <br />discussed. The amount of financial help provided by national and regional government is <br />reported, too. Effects of the lack of an appropriate maintenance of infrastructures and drainage <br />works are investigated and an overview of the lessons learned from the dramatic event in terms <br />of guidelines for civil protection activities and of education of the people for a correct behavior <br />in coping with emergencies is presented. <br /> <br />Flooding and the Demise of the Moche Empire, Peru <br /> <br />Kenneth R. Wright, Jonathan M. Kelly, and John Dracup <br />Wright Water Engineers <br /> <br />The El Nino flooding of the Moche River in Northern Peru between 400 AD and 750 AD <br />contributed to the collapse of the great Moche empire. Intense flooding routinely devastated the <br />capitol of Moche and stripped away the urban landscape and agricultural fields. <br /> <br />Later, when the valley was occupied by the Sican people, flooding continued to destroy urban <br />and agricultural development which then created social instability. <br /> <br />Cooperation between archaeologists and paleohydrologists for the study of ancient civilizations <br />and their demise is useful in better understanding the long term impacts of flooding on modem <br />civilizations. <br /> <br />12 <br />