Windstorm tears roof off Bologna swimming pool

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 28 - A violent windstorm tore the roof off a swimming pool near Bologna on Tuesday as heavy storms continued to pound parts of central Italy, including the Emilia-Romagna region.
    The windstorm hit in particular Bologna and its province where, in Ozzano, the twister damaged the municipal swimming pool, which was closed off after all the people inside were evacuated.
    Nobody was injured, Ozzano Mayor Luca Lelli said.
    Meanwhile the governor of the Emilia-Romagna region around Bologna, Michele de Pascale, expressed concern after the Lamone river, which also crosses the region, reached the red alert level in Marradi, near Florence, fearing it might break its banks.
    He said the regional operational centre was monitoring the situation.
    The Lamone reached a record 2.68 metres in Marradi near Florence but was considered to be receding in the afternoon by the Tuscan civil protection while it was increasingly swelling in Romagna.
    "Great concern, solidarity to local administrators" who are monitoring the situation along with the regional centre, said de Pascale.
    "If we ever needed an additional incentive, this constant stream of concerning events affecting the whole territory can only induce us to do better", he noted.
    Back in September, the Emilia-Romagna region experienced severe floods caused by torrential rain as nearly 3,000 residents were evacuated.
    In particular, the Lamone river broke its banks in Bagnacavallo near Ravenna, flooding the town and destroying homes.
    Many of the areas affected by the bad weather in Emilia-Romagna in September were the same ones hit by flooding and landslides in May 2023 linked to unprecedented rainfall that left 17 people dead and caused billions of euros of damage. (ANSA).