Floods in Italy: two dead, hundreds evacuated

In the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, there were sometimes dramatic floods after heavy rains. At least two people were killed, the media reported on Wednesday.

An elderly man was swept away by the body of water on his bicycle while riding on a road that was actually already closed. Another person died under the rubble of a house that was hit by a landslide and collapsed. Rescuers searched the ruins for a second missing person.

Regional President Stefano Bonaccini wanted to ask Rome to declare a state of emergency, as he had announced. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tweeted that she was following developments in northern Italy, which was recently hit by severe drought and drought.

But then storms erupted over the weekend, and parts of Emilia-Romagna received as much rain in one day as normally falls in a month. Several rivers overflowed their banks and flooded entire cities. Photos and videos show parked cars sinking up to their roofs into the bodies of water.

Firefighters in the hardest-hit areas around the capital Bologna and the coastal town of Ravenna were on constant duty, with around 400 calls counted on Wednesday morning alone. Hundreds of people had to leave their homes for safety reasons – thousands more were threatened with evacuation for safety reasons. Soldiers of the Italian army were also deployed.

During the night the rivers Sillaro and Lamone overflowed their banks. Many homes were without electricity and gas on Wednesday. There was also a power failure at Bologna Airport, which meant that handling, take-off and landing had to be halted. In Bologna, many flooded roads were closed. Rail traffic was halted in many places. A number of schools remained closed.

In Italy’s longest river, the Po, which had transported extremely little water in recent months, the water level has risen by one and a half meters, the agricultural association Coldiretti reports. Fields and crops in the immediate vicinity were flooded. (aeg/sda/dpa)