It rains and the dam operates automatically

The heavy rain of the last few days has caused the Gurone dam to operate. After the successful testing a few weeks ago, which included a simulation of “catastrophic flooding”, the flood detention basin in Malnate operated automatically for the first time, during the last weekend of downfall, and thereby prevented any possible sudden overflowing of the Olona River.

“The dam passed the first real test brilliantly,” the Provincial Councillor for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Energy, Luca Marsico said. “The structure’s bulkheads operated automatically for the first time at about 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, and lowered almost completely. It took about four hours to complete containment, and then the water began to flow away slowly; this morning, the work of clearing away the rubble was already in progress.  The heavy downpours of the last few days proved to be a good test for the system, and in view of the results, we can say that the benefits of the dam were greatly felt, because it saved the land downstream from flooding.”