What to do in case of rain and hail

Outdoors

To carry out activities in the vicinity of a watercourse (even a simple picnic) or to choose the area for a camp:

• choose one area at a safe distance from the stream bed and sufficiently raised above the level of the stream, as well as sufficiently distant from steep or unstable slopes: intense downpours could trigger sudden movements of the ground.

In an urban environment

The most typical difficulties are related to the inability of the drainage system to drain considerable quantities of water that fall to the ground in a short time resulting in sudden flooding of roads. For this reason:

• be careful to step in underpasses and subways, there is a risk of ending up with the vehicle semi- submerged or submerged in water
• avoid going or pausing in environments such as basements, ground floors , garages, as they are exposed to a strong risk of flooding during heavy downpours

And especially if you are driving:

• even in the absence of flooding , the asphalt suddenly made slippery by rain is an insidious danger for those who are driving vehicles or motorcycles , reducing either the road-holding and the efficiency of the braking
• reduce the speed or make a stop-over, waiting for the most intense phase - which hardly lasts more than half an hour – of the storm to diminish . Simply wait briefly in a parking area. During the most intense phase of a downpour is, in fact, visibility is greatly reduced

In the case of hail , warnings for traffic already seen in the case of rain remain valid, also about the consequences on the slippery state of the road surface and sharp reductions in visibility. The duration of a hailstorm is typically quite brief.