Italy
Flash floods, landslides, deaths: Emilia-Romagna cleans up after the flood disaster
Watch the video: Emilia-Romagna clears up within weeks after the second flood.
Everything full of mud, everything lost – after the severe flooding in northern Italy, many people were busy on Thursday eliminating the consequences of the disaster. As here in Cesena, numerous places in the Emilia-Romagna region are affected. Some residents are faced with the ruins of their previous lives and their memories. The album with the wedding photos soggy, nothing but garbage. “My married life is over there now, in the bin,” says this woman. Her husband describes the moment of the catastrophe. “The water came up through the shower. I slept, she woke me up and we managed to escape. It was full within minutes, it was around 4:30, maybe 5:00 in the morning.” Torrential rain had caused more than 20 rivers in the region to burst their banks. The muddy floods and landslides brought destruction and death. At least nine people were killed. Thousands had to be brought to safety. The Formula 1 Grand Prix planned for the weekend in Imola has been cancelled. It was the second severe storm in Emilia-Romagna since early May. Before that, the region had suffered from drought for months. According to meteorologists, the dried-up ground could not absorb the water masses quickly, which made the flooding worse. Those affected are now hoping for government help. The government is expected to allocate €20 million to Emilia-Romagna next week, on top of the €10 million already made available in response to the floods in early May.
Landslides and flash floods following heavy rains have hit dozens of places in Emilia-Romagna. Several people lost their lives. Many are faced with the ruins of their existence.
Giuseppe Beltrame is standing in the front yard of his little house and can’t believe it. The mud that the extreme rains have washed through the town of Faenza reaches up to his shins. Beltrame points to the wall of the house and a brown line about two and a half meters high – that’s how high the water was when he was evacuated by rescue teams in a rubber dinghy with his wife and dog early Wednesday morning. Beltrame returns for the first time on Thursday and sees the devastation: tables, chairs, chests of drawers lie on the floor in the living room. The refrigerator in the kitchen has fallen over. Everything is full of mud. Beltrame bursts into tears.
After the storms and severe flooding that hit the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy at the beginning of the week, many people will start cleaning up on Thursday. Disbelief prevails. In just under two days, as much rain fell in some places as it normally does in half a year. Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to eleven after the bodies of a woman and a man were found in the town of Russi in the province of Ravenna on Thursday, the Ansa and Adnkronos news agencies reported. Some politicians use the term “apocalypse”.
Families rescued from flood by helicopter
Giuseppe Beltrame had hoped to be able to hold out on the first floor of the terraced house. On Tuesday morning around three o’clock, when the ground floor was already under water, the civil defense also picked him up. “Three families on this street had to be flown away by helicopter,” he said on Thursday, pointing down Via Don Giovanni Verità. There Federica Pizzuto is now standing and crying. She too sees for the first time what the water has done to her newly renovated house. “We wanted to move in at the end of May. The new furniture is already there, as is a new kitchen,” she says, hiding her tears behind large sunglasses.
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Faenza, in the province of Ravenna, is one of the most affected municipalities. At least 23 rivers burst their banks across the region, authorities said. The Lamone flows through Faenza, during the previous storms at the beginning of May the dams were still holding. Giuseppe Beltrame got “not a drop” back then, as he remembers.
Great drought in northern Italy
In northern Italy there has been a great drought and dryness in recent months. The soil could not absorb the sudden and torrential rains, explains regional president Stefano Bonaccini. “Besides, the river beds haven’t been cleaned for many years. No wonder the water couldn’t drain away!” grumbles a passer-by as he walks past the houses of Beltrame and Pizzuto. “Those responsible should be punished!”
Because of the flooding, the electricity and mobile phone networks collapsed in many parts of the region. Many drinking water pipes were also affected. In Castel Bolognese, a good five kilometers from Faenza, a fire brigade tanker is parked in front of the sports hall and is distributing drinking water. People with plastic and glass bottles queue to get water to take home. “For drinking and for cooking,” explains a helper.
Soldiers help after the natural disaster
Dozens of cots have been set up inside the hall. Almost 80 evacuees slept here on Thursday night, including a number of old people who did not stay with friends or relatives. Many guests are expected again on Friday night, says a woman from civil protection. Soldiers have their mattresses and backpacks lying on the stands in the hall, and the Italian army is also helping after the natural disaster.
The sympathy is great in the Mediterranean country. All other regions sent helpers, experts and equipment to Emilia-Romagna and Marche, where floods had also occurred. Regional President Bonaccini put the damage at several billion euros, as he said on Italian television. He asked the government for quick help. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also assured him of this from Japan, where she is taking part in the G7 summit. In a telegram to the Archbishop of Bologna, Pope Francis said he was “urging consolation for the injured and those suffering the consequences of the grave accident”.
AA warns of flooding and landslides
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office had warned German travelers or Germans living in Italy about the dangers of flooding and landslides. You should follow the current situation on local and social media and follow the instructions of the local authorities.
The Italian civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, emphasized that due to the increasingly extreme weather conditions – drought on the one hand and storms on the other – completely new concepts are needed to make inhabited areas safer. It could take eight to twelve months for such plans to be drawn up, the minister said.
New rain expected in Emilia-Romagna
New rain has already been announced for the next few days in the areas around the affected cities such as Faenza, Ravenna, Forlì and Cesena. Giuseppe Beltrame stands in the mud in his living room, shakes his head and then picks up a pot of flowers that has remained reasonably intact. “Maybe a sign of a new beginning…” he says. He has tears in his eyes.