It has been a particularly rainy day in Modica today and there have been floods in nearby Siracusa. Perhaps this is what has prompted more social media posts than usual marking the anniversary of the devastating flood that happened here on 26th September 1902, leaving 112 dead, heartbreaking damage to both public buildings and homes, crumbled bridges and a lower town that would be changed forever.
It was in the early hours of that fateful day that the equivalent of six months' normal rainfall plummeted down on Modica and you can see the watermark on the building below. [I'm sorry the plaque is not clear in the photo.]
After this event, the rivers that flowed into and through Modica were covered up. If you come to Modica, the first thing you'll probably do is take a stroll along the Corso Umberto I in Modica Bassa. You'll be walking where the river flowed until the beginning of the last century.
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