Thirteen people have died, and thousands evacuated from their homes in northern Italy as torrential rain triggered floods and landslides.
Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had gotten half their average annual rainfall in 36 hours, causing rivers to fragment their banks, sending water cascading through towns and submerging thousands of farmland.
Sunday’s Formula One Grand Prix in Imola, near many of the worst-hit districts, was called off to alleviate pressure on emergency services and stop motor racing fans from converging on the inundated region.
The president of the worst-hit Emilia-Romagna region Stefano Bonaccini said the damage was “catastrophic.”
Here, Yahoo News UK has calmed some of the most dramatic pictures manifesting the impact of the floods.
The torrential rain followed months of drought which had dried out the land, reducing its volume to absorb water and the impact of the floods.
“It’s probably been the beat night in the history of Romagna,” Ravenna Mayor Michele de Pascale told public radio, saying 5,000 people were evacuated from his city on Tuesday night.
Nine people have died, and four are lost after dramatic storms aroused severe flooding in Italy’s central Marche region, forcing politicians to finally raise the subject of the climate crisis a week before general elections.
Captivating Images Reveal the Enormity of Destruction
Dozens of others are announcing to have saved themselves by climbing onto rooftops and trees, in scenes described as akin to an “apocalypse”. Fifty people are being handled in hospital.
Heavy rain started to lash the region on Thursday afternoon, with streets turning into rivers and 420mm of a raindrop in the worst-hit town, Cantiano, within a few hours, half the quantity that fell on the city throughout the whole of 2021, Corriere della Sera describe.
Mario Tozzi, a geologist, told La Presse that six months’ worth of sprinkles had fallen across the about within three hours.
The regional capital of Ancona and surrounding areas were also severely affected.
“It’s a tragedy,” said Manuela Bora, a local councillor with the centre-left Democratic party. “But there was no example that leaves us speechless – we weren’t assembled for such intense rain. It started yesterday, and by about 9 pm, I was getting videos where you could see the calamity the storms were causing. It’s a chunk more under control now in Ancona city, but it is severe in some towns, like an apocalypse.”
Carlo Manfredi, the mayor of Castelleone di Suasa, told Rai News on Friday morning that rescuers were unmoving, penetrating for an eight-year-old boy.
“Last night, we established his mother alive,” he said. “She was in her car when she said the water was coming and got out with the child in her other arm. But then they got hauled away.”
Stirring Pictures Depicting the Enormous Scale of Italy’s Floods
A 17-year-old girl and her mother are trusted to have been brushed away by flood waters near Senigallia as they tried to flee the area by car.
Francesco Acquaroli, the governor of Marche, which the far-right Brothers of Italy lead, the function on the verge of national power after ballot on 25 September, said he had gotten calls of solidarity from President Sergio Mattarella and the prime minister, Mario Draghi. “The pain above what has happened is deep, but the Marche community is hefty and will know how to react,” he said.
Giorgia Meloni, the Brothers of Italy leader who could become Italy’s prime minister, offered “full solidarity” to those pretentious.
The climate crisis has mainly been present from the discussion in the election run-up, despite scientists launching a petition in August signed by more than 120,000 people urging politicians to prioritise the issue.
Enrico Letta, the leader of the hub-left Democratic party, reported on Friday that he was hanging campaigning over the tragedy, adding that he was “stunned and speechless”.
“How can you think the fight against climate change is not the precedence?” he said.
Francesco Rocca, the head of state of the global Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, noted on Twitter that he was “very worried by the growth of extreme weather events”.
Italy’s longest river, the Po, suffered its worst drought this year in seven decades. In early July, 11 people were murdered when a vast mass of ice from a berg on the north side of the Marmolada peak in the Dolomites penniless away, causing a fatal avalanche.
