Giuseppe Beltrame stands in the front yard of his cottage and can’t believe it. The mud that the extreme rainfall has washed through the city of Faenza reaches up to his shins. Beltrame points to the wall of the house and a brown line about two and a half meters high – that’s how high the water was when he was evacuated early Wednesday morning by rescue teams in a dinghy with his wife and dog.
Beltrame returns for the first time on Thursday and sees the destruction: tables, chairs, chests of drawers are on the floor in the living room. The refrigerator in the kitchen has fallen over. Everything is full of mud. Beltrame bursts into tears.
After the storms and severe flooding that hit the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy early this week, many people are starting to clean up on Thursday. Disbelief prevails. In just under two days, as much rain fell in some places as normal in half a year. The death toll has now risen to 13 after the bodies of a woman and a man were found on Thursday in the town of Russi in Ravenna province, Ansa and Adnkronos news agencies said. Some politicians use the term “apocalypse”.
Giuseppe Beltrame had hoped to survive on the first floor of the terraced house. Tuesday morning around three o’clock, when the ground floor was already under water, the civil protection also picked him up. “Three families on this street had to be flown away by helicopter,” he said on Thursday, pointing to Via Don Giovanni Verità. There Federica Pizzuto is crying right now. She also sees for the first time what the water has done to her newly renovated house. “We wanted to move in at the end of May. The new furniture is already there, as is a new kitchen,” she says, hiding her tears behind large sunglasses.
Faenza, in the province of Ravenna, is one of the most affected municipalities. Authorities say at least 23 rivers have burst their banks across the region. The Lamone flows through Faenza, during the previous storms at the beginning of May the dams still held. Giuseppe Beltrame then got “not a drop”, as he recalls.
There has been a major drought and drought in northern Italy in recent months. The ground could not absorb the sudden and torrential rain, regional president Stefano Bonaccini explained. “Moreover, the riverbeds have not been cleaned for years. No wonder the water couldn’t drain!” complains a passer-by as he passes the houses in Beltrame and Pizzuto. “Those responsible must be punished!”
The floods knocked out power and mobile phone networks in many parts of the region. Many drinking water pipes were also affected. In Castel Bolognese, a good five kilometers from Faenza, a tanker from the fire brigade is parked in front of the sports hall and is distributing drinking water. People with plastic and glass bottles line up to get water to take home. “For drinking and for cooking,” explains a helper.
Dozens of cots are set up in the hall. On Thursday night, almost 80 evacuees slept here, including a number of elderly people who were not staying with friends or relatives. Many guests are expected again on Friday evening, says a woman from civil protection. Soldiers have their mattresses and backpacks on the stands in the hall, and the Italian army is also helping after the natural disaster.
Sympathy is great in the Mediterranean country. All other regions sent helpers, experts and equipment to Emilia-Romagna and Marche, where flooding had also occurred. Regional President Bonaccini estimated the damage at several billion euros, as he said on Italian television. He asked the government for quick help. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also assured him of this from Japan, where she is taking part in the G7 summit. In a telegram to the Archbishop of Bologna, Pope Francis said he “urged consolation for the injured and those suffering from the consequences of the grave accident”.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office had warned German travelers or Germans living in Italy about the dangers of flooding and landslides. You should monitor the current situation on local and social media and follow the instructions of the local authorities.
The Italian Minister of Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci, emphasized that due to the increasingly extreme weather conditions – drought on the one hand and storms on the other – completely new concepts are needed to make inhabited areas safer. It could take eight to 12 months for such plans to be drawn up, the minister said.
New rain has already been announced for the coming days in the areas around the affected cities such as Faenza, Ravenna, Forlì and Cesena. Giuseppe Beltrame stands in the mud in his living room, shakes his head, then picks up a pot of flowers that has remained fairly intact. “Perhaps a sign of a new beginning…” he says. He has tears in his eyes. (sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
