Intense Precipitation and Urban Resilience Conference

A conference in Riga on Thursday is turning a technical climate problem into a city problem: what happens when rain falls faster than streets and drains can handle. (climaax.eu) The event runs from 10:00 to 15:00 on April 23, 2026, with attendance both in person in Riga and online. It is organized by the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, a partner in the CLIMAAX consortium, together with the Water4All project ECCO. (climaax.eu) The agenda centers on precipitation monitoring, urban hydrology and flood modelling — tools that track how rain moves from clouds to pavement to overloaded drainage systems. Panel discussions include researchers, ministries, municipalities, banks, insurers and emergency services. (climaax.eu) That mix reflects the problem the conference is tackling. The European Commission says floods are Europe’s most common and most costly natural disasters, and says they are becoming more frequent as the climate changes. (environment.ec.europa.eu) In cities, the immediate threat is often pluvial flooding — water pooling on streets, in underpasses and in basements after intense rainfall, even when rivers stay in their banks. The European Commission’s adaptation portal says pluvial risk tools are meant to estimate urban flood damage and test measures such as nature-based solutions. (mission-adaptation-portal.ec.europa.eu) Scientists still struggle to measure the shortest, sharpest downpours. The European Environment Agency says local short-term cloudbursts are often missed by weather stations and are not always represented well in current regional climate models. (eea.europa.eu) That gap helps explain why the Riga meeting leans so heavily on data and models. The CLIMAAX handbook says its heavy-rainfall workflow is designed to show when rainfall intensity exceeds the critical thresholds of natural and artificial drainage systems, the point where urban and flash flooding begins. (handbook.climaax.eu) CLIMAAX itself is a four-year Horizon Europe project running from January 2023 through December 2026. The project says it provides financial, analytical and practical support for regional climate and emergency risk management plans. (climaax.eu) Its toolbox combines hazard data with exposure and vulnerability data such as land use, building types, age, income, healthcare access and infrastructure. The idea is to move from “how much rain might fall” to “which neighborhoods, services and buildings take the hit.” (climaax.eu) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been moving in the same direction. Its Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, now in preparation, lists inland and coastal flooding, critical infrastructure and urban risk modelling among the core topics for the report. (ipcc.ch) Thursday’s conference will be held in Latvian with simultaneous interpretation into English. For cities trying to turn rainfall data into street-level flood decisions, the pitch is practical: better maps, better thresholds and faster coordination before the next cloudburst. (climaax.eu)