The balance of victims rises to thirteen dead this Thursday in Emilia-Romagna, a region in northeastern Italy where floods left devastated towns and thousands of farms affected.
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About twenty rivers overflowed their banks in the plains of Emilia-Romagna, where 4.5 million people live, due to the torrential rains that fell in the region in recent days, which also caused landslides, according to regional authorities.
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Thirteen people died, according to all the media, a new balance that the authorities have not yet confirmed.
More than 10,000 people had to leave their homes. With “six months of rain in 36 hours” and “record rainfall” for two weeks, “no territory can resist,” lamented Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia-Romagna region.
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The water covered vast agricultural areas, destroying crops, entire towns suffered from the muddy flood, some bridges collapsed and 400 roads sank. The damage could cost billions of euros, to which are added 2,000 million (about 2,150 million dollars) due to the floods suffered at the beginning of the month.
The rain stopped by mid-afternoon on Wednesday and forecasters are not expecting significant precipitation on Thursday. The mayoress of Ravenna, Michele De Pascale, indicated on Thursday that although the inhabitants of certain evacuated towns could return to their homes, others would have to leave due to the threat of breaking some retaining dikes.
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In places where the waters were receding, the inhabitants cleaned houses and streets covered with mud and rubble. In Lugo, Andrea Ancherani shows the mud marks left in his apartment.
“No one here remembers having experienced something like this. Last night was very difficult, but today we are here, we work while we wait for someone to come to clear the streets,” he told AFP.
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For authorities and experts, these catastrophes will be common. “Nothing will be like before, because this process of tropicalization that is rising from Africa also affects Italy,” warned the Minister of Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci, on Wednesday.
The floods caused the cancellation of the Formula 1 Grand Prix that was scheduled for Sunday in Emilia-Romagna.
AFP
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