A violent storm has devastated the Italian provinces of Emilia-Romagna and Marche. The coastal cities of Ravenna and Ancona are also affected.
Ravenna/Ancona – The summer holidays are only two weeks over, and now many holidaymakers who do not have school-age children are usually enjoying the quieter days and not-so-hot weather on the beaches of the Italian Adriatic. But since Wednesday, an unbelievable storm has been hitting the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche.
Within 48 hours, it rained heavily north of the Apennines, with 350 millimetres of rain falling in Emilia-Romagna, the regional authority announced. The area between Ravenna and Brisighella was particularly affected. According to meteoweb.eu Over a thousand people were evacuated, 800 of them in the area of the coastal town of Ravenna, where there are also many popular beaches. Cyclone Boris, which also raged in the Bologna area, is responsible.
The Lamone River, which flows from the Apennines, has broken through a dam in Traversara di Bagnacavallo near Ravenna, and entire areas are flooded. Rescuers are using helicopters to rescue people trapped on roofs. Two people have been reported missing. Italy’s Deputy Minister of Transport Galeazzo Bignami said at a press conference in Rome: “The head of civil protection, Ciciliano, tells me that two people are missing in Bagnacavallo because a roof collapsed where they had sought refuge.” The entire town was evacuated. Bignami continued: “One of the two missing people was swept away by the water.” In Ravenna, evacuation orders were issued for entire districts.
Two people missing after house collapses in floods
In the southern Marche region, 260 firefighters were deployed on 300 missions on Thursday morning; six families were evacuated in the town of Ponterotto and near the holiday resort of Grottamare due to a landslide. In Ancona, the fire brigade had to free several drivers from their vehicles that had become stuck in the floodwaters.
The rains are expected to continue until Friday. The civil defense extended the red alert for the region until September 20th.
Criticism of the authorities: “Nothing done after the flood of 2023”
Meanwhile, there is strong criticism of the flood management of the Emilia-Romagna region, which was hit by a severe flood in spring 2023. “After a year and 4 months since the last flood, not even the riverbeds have been cleaned and freed,” criticises a Facebook-User. “The citizens must get answers from the elected administrators who have done nothing for the district despite the flow of money that has come every year.”
One user writes: “One year and four months since the floods in Romagna, many relatives and injured people have not yet received compensation.” A man who was planning his vacation in Rimini writes: “I wanted to leave in a few days to relax in the peace and quiet of Rimini in September, but unfortunately the Romagna Riviera has been hit by another flood.”
Some point to the global Climate change “This flood repeats the uncomfortable truth that climate activists are shouting in the squares. Climate collapse is already here.”
In the past few days, a violent storm front caused destructive floods in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. In the Alps, the precipitation fell as snow, causing several deadly avalanches. At least one person froze to death in South Tyrol due to the drop in temperature.
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