Quinn Storm and Rolf Medicane gave us the opportunity to test the Balangero Asbestos Mine Environmental Risk Based Decision Making (RBDM) Restoration Design under Extreme Meteorological Conditions. Another success for CDA-ESM!

Two storm gave us the opportunity to test the Balangero Asbestos Mine Environmental Risk Based Decision Making (RBDM) Restoration Design under Extreme Meteorological Conditions.

The “pathways” are reinforced with small palisades built with wood logs. That increases the use of natural materials and reduces the need for concrete and steel. The downhill side palisades are totally covered by earth whereas the uphill palisades remains visible. It is complemented by a geogrid and densely planted to obtain, once vegetation will be mature, a “green retaining structure”.

In the past (2009) we already reported in this blog about an interesting environmental restoration project that was entirely designed using RBDM. 

As the project includes a large reforestation program, we have been updating our reports. In fact we just published and presented a paper on it at Tailings and Mine Waste 2011 Conference,Vancouver, Canada.

Asbestos Mine Environmental Risk Based Decision Making (RBDM) Restoration Design under Extreme Meteorological Conditions

 We shall not enter again in the details of CDA-ESM as we have already presented many times in this blog. However, we invite you to look at the presentation, as it displays how nicely the project is blending into the natural landscape.

Also, as we were presenting the paper, the site got hit with two extreme rainy events. In fact, these caused billions of damage in Northern Italy and Southern France. Balangero was right in the middle of the situation. One event was Storm Quinn, the other was “Medicane” (that stands for Mediterranean Hurricane) Rolf.

 Balangero slopes came out unscathed, as no trees were lost to erosion. These two storms were not the first ones to hit the area. However, with their 400mm to 650mm (locally) of rain they successfully passed the severe summer storms in 2010 and 2011.

Tagged with: assessment, catastrophe, change, Climate, events, extreme, medicane, quinn, rolf, storm

Category: Consequences, Hazard, Mitigations, Probabilities, Risk analysis, Risk management, Tolerance/Acceptability