Cumulative rainfall patterns in Abidjan from June 12 to 15, 2020 are “higher than normal for the same period” in all municipalities of the city, an official source told APA Monday.
The information was given by the Airport, Aeronautical and Meteorological Operating and Development Company (SODEXAM) in a document entitled “Frequency Analysis of Daily Rainfall in the District of Abidjan from June 12 to 15, 2020 at 8:00 am.”
SODEXAM said in the reports that “the municipalities of Bingerville and Koumassi recorded the largest differences with more than 230 percent”.
According to the report “the amounts of rain recorded in the municipalities of Bingerville and Koumassi from June 12 to 15, 2020 are exceptional”.
It said the return periods for the amount of rain in Bingerville is 85 years while that of Koumassi is 45 years.
Explaining this exceptional situation in the two towns, the weather office indicated that the comparison of the levels from June 12 to 15, 2020 at the rainfall stations in the district of Abidjan with the historical daily maximum rain data recorded at the Synoptique Station of the Abidjan airport over the period 1936-2019 (i.e. 84 years) allows for the conclusion that the amounts of rain recorded in the towns of Bingerville and Koumassi from 12 to 15 June 2020 are unique.
“The rain levels of other municipalities are not exceptional since their return times are relatively short,” said the document.
The Ivorian economic capital has been watered for a few years by downpours that left at least one person dead and several injured in flooded neighborhoods.
A three-story building also collapsed in Abatta village in eastern Abidjan.
LB/ls/fss/as/APA