Latest news "Like a wall of water" - Severe storm damage in Italy
Muddy houses, blocked roads and power cuts - the severe storms of the past few days have left a trail of devastation in central and northern Italy. According to media reports, the damage in the popular tourist region of Tuscany with its capital Florence alone was estimated at at least 100 million euros. The neighboring region of Emilia-Romagna to the north, with the capital Bologna and the Adriatic metropolis of Ravenna, was also badly affected.
16.03.2025, 11:32
SDA
In Florence, 70 liters of rain per square meter fell within six hours on Friday, which corresponds to the average for an entire month. The water level of the Arno had risen dangerously, but has been falling again since Saturday. Downstream in Pisa, the situation was also critical. In Fauglia near Pisa, firefighters had to use rubber dinghies to rescue two families from their homes trapped by the water.
Retention basins prevented the worst
There was also severe flooding in the area of the Siave, a tributary of the Arno. "The Siave overflowed its banks and the mud got everywhere. We have never seen rain like this in 40 years, it seemed like a wall of water," the newspaper "La Repubblica" quoted residents of the village of San Piero a Sieve, north of Florence.
The regional president of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, said that a drainage channel and flood retention basins had prevented the worst from happening in Florence. "We are facing a very serious situation, but we can say that our Arno system worked," said Giani. He asked the government in Rome to declare a national state of emergency in order to enable faster relief operations in the affected areas.
Spring rains as usual in the fall
According to newspaper reports, the province of Ravenna was the worst affected in Emilia-Romagna. There had already been several floods in the region in recent years. The mayor of the small town of Faenza, Fabrizio Curzio, said it was grueling to constantly live with this danger. "The worry of a town that is constantly held in check, threatened by every major weather event, is unbearable," he said.
Meteorologist Bernardo Gozzini described the rainfall as unusual for the time of year. "A storm like this is more typical for November, when the sea is still warm and water is evaporating," he told La Repubblica. "You could almost say there was no winter. The Mediterranean couldn't cool down," he added. It is perhaps a little bold to attribute today's storms to climate change with certainty. But 2024 was the warmest year ever.
