October rainstorm impacts two SITES stations near Umeå

23 October 2024

A heavy rainstorm, exceeding 91 millimeters of precipitation over just a few days, caused flooding of the SITES Water infrastructure at Röbäcksdalen near Umeå. After four days of rain, the storm surge from Degernäsbäcken and Röbäcken carved new routes across normally dry land.

The flooding damage at Röbäcksdalen was limited to two specific locations, site 1 and site 6: at site 1, the flooding caused temporary data loss from sensors; at site 6, one ring of a concrete water pipe tipped over, requiring work to retrieve it from the bottom of Röbäcken.

While no damage was reported at the Svartberget station, the precipitation there led to the second-highest autumn flood event recorded, with a discharge of over 109 liters per second. 

Site 1 Röbäcksdalen flood

 The high discharge at SITES Water site 1 on the 11th of October at Röbäcksdalen (photo: Håkan Nilsson)

plot discharge Svartberget

The rapid increase in discharge at Kryckland site / (Svartberget Research Station) caused by the heavy rain