Five people have died in the province
of Forlì-Cesena due to the wave of torrential rain and flooding
that had hit Emilia Romagna, sources said on Wednesday.
Rescue teams are also searching for a person in the province of
Ravenna who is missing, feared dead, due to the extreme weather.
In addition, Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said so
far at least 5,000 people have been evacuated to safety in the
region.
"But there could also be more," Musumeci told Radio24, adding
that "everything that needed to be done has been done".
On Tuesday evening Emilia Romagna Governor Stefano Bonaccini of
the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said "the reality has
exceeded the worst predictions". "The reality is really dramatic
in many parts of Emilia-Romagna," said Bonnacini. "We had issued
a weather alert, but the amount of water that has fallen today
has already reached and in some cases exceeded that which fell
two weeks ago, which was already an unprecedented amount of
rain. There are many areas where rivers have flooded or are in
danger of doing so tonight," he added.
Indeed during the night a further 14 rivers in Emilia Romagna -
Idice, Quaderna, Sillaro, Santerno, Senio, Lamone Marzeno,
Montone, Savio, Pisciatello, Lavino, Gaiana, Ronco - broke their
banks, causing further flooding and damage.
"From the moment they raised the alarm, at around 9 p.m., the
water rose in 10 minutes. It rose almost to the first floor in
no time," said a woman from Faenza in the province of Ravenna
who lives about 300m from the Lamone River, which burst its
banks on Tuesday.
"A neighbor was alone in the house with four small children,
calling for help and no one came. We stayed with them all night,
in our pajamas. The children were crying. A disaster," she said.
Meteorologists said the rain was expected to let up in affected
areas by mid afternoon.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was set to visit
the affected areas on Wednesday and Deputy Premier and foreign
Minister Antonio Tajani said the government would do everything
possible to assist the stricken population.
The fresh wave of extreme weather comes after Emilia Romagna was
hit by storms that claimed two lives at the start of the month.
Scientists say that extreme weather events like heat waves,
supercharged storms, flooding and droughts are becoming more
frequent and more intense because of climate change caused by
human greenhouse-gas emissions.
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