HEAVY FLOODING IN ITALY KILLS SEVERAL, AS RIVER LEVELS CONTINUE TO RISE

Thu 18 May 2023:

Multiple people are dead and thousands forced to evacuate their homes, after heavy rains and devastating flooding struck parts of northern Italy. Authorities in Emilia-Romagna said more rain is expected throughout the region, as rescue operations continue.

Fourteen rivers burst their banks in the region, flooding 23 towns, forcing people in cities such as Cesena to climb onto the roof of their buildings to escape incoming water. The region, which has been suffering a prolonged drought, is under a red alert. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, scheduled for this weekend, has been canceled and the site evacuated.

Italy’s civil protection agency said on Wednesday there could be worse to come. “The rainfall is not over, it will continue for several hours,” the agency’s chief, Titti Postiglione, told SkyTG24 news. “We are facing a very, very complicated situation.”

There has been heavy rain across Italy in recent days but the worst-affected area has been Emilia-Romagna and parts of the central Marche region, where 12 people died in floods last September.

Flooding occurred in 41 municipalities, while an even greater number reported landslides. Thousands of farms in the fertile agricultural area were also affected.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in Japan for the G7 summit, tweeted her support for those affected and said the government was “ready to intervene with the necessary aid”.

The deputy prime minister, Antonio Tajani, said the government would “do everything to help the population hit by the flooding in Emilia-Romagna”.

“From those evacuated to the agricultural companies that have lost entire harvests,” he added. “The rescue forces and volunteers are heroes. I pray for the victims and their families.”

From lengthy droughts, to severe flooding, the intensity of water-related disasters around the world has increased over the last two decades, as global temperatures climbed to record levels.

In 2022, the hottest year on record in Italy, 310 extreme weather events were registered, causing the deaths of 29 people, according to Legambiente, an environmental group. In late November, 12 people, including several children, died in a landslide on the island of Ischia.

A report in 2021 by Ispra, the Italian government’s environment agency, said 7,423 municipalities (93.4% of the total) across the country were at risk of landslides, floods and coastal erosion. However, the government has done little to mitigate the risk.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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