BOLOGNA (ITALPRESS) – A new wave of unprecedented rainfall has hit Emilia-Romagna and in particular the Metropolitan City of Bologna. Since the afternoon, in fact, up to 175 millimeters of rain have fallen, on the capital, the first hill and in neighboring municipalities such as Pianoro, San Lazzaro di Savena or Casalecchio di Reno. The historical average for the entire month of October is just over 70 millimeters. Acting President Irene Priolo has been in liaison since yesterday with the Relief Coordination Centers, activated by all Prefectures, as well as the entire Civil Defense system has been mobilized. In the morning, the Operational Committee of the National Civil Defense was also convened in the presence of the department head, Fabio Ciciliano. In Botteghino di Zocca, in the municipality of Pianoro (Bo), one person died: a 20-year-old man who was in his car at the time of the overflow of the Zena torrent.
The extraordinary amount of rain caused numerous areas of Bologna to flood, with city streets flooded and sewer and drainage networks unable to absorb the water. In addition, the Navile and Ravone streams overflowed. Several municipalities in the area, to the left and right of the Reno, and are also affected by overflows. In the early hours of the morning, Idice waters came out upstream of the embanked section near the Via Rabuina bridge in the municipality of Budrio. Other flooding occurred in Anzola, Castel Guelfo, Imola, Malalbergo and Baricella, also in the Bologna area. Heavy criticality also occurred in the Imola area, related to the Sillaro River. This morning in Emilia-Romagna there were 8 rivers above level 3, the red threshold of maximum alert. A total of 15 waterways exceeded the alert threshold during the event. Floods at all-time highs were recorded on Samoggia, Idice, Sillaro and Senio. Some rivers recorded levels above those of May 2023, such as the Idice in Castenaso and the Samoggia in Forcelli. Under close observation is the outflow at the confluence with the Reno, where the flood is expected to rise in the valley section.
In the Modena and Reggio areas, floods with flood levels near threshold 3 are also spreading in the Parma, Enza and Secchia valley sections, slowed at the mouth by the transit of the flood in the Po. A particular criticality is in Cadelbosco di Sotto, in the province of Reggio Emilia, where there has been a break in the Tassone Canal: operations are underway to assist affected citizens. Floods near or below threshold 2 are ongoing on the Santerno, Lamone, and Montone rivers. Since the beginning of the emergency, more than 600 interventions have been carried out in all provinces of Emilia-Romagna, 165 in the Bologna area alone, by firefighters. Many more are in progress or waiting to be taken care of.
More than 2,100 people have been evacuated, an overall figure that at the beginning of the morning covered both the capital and municipalities in the province (including Budrio, Castelmaggiore, Molinella, Lavino, Medicina, and Castel San Pietro). The number of utilities that suffered electrical blackouts during the night was about 15 thousand, but thanks to the work of these hours this morning about 4 thousand utilities were disconnected, the majority in the province of Bologna.
There are no particular criticalities in the Ravenna area, awaiting the passage of the culverts in the waterways. There are 350 Civil Defense volunteers from Emilia-Romagna working since yesterday, joined by those from 180 regional mobile columns from Piedmont, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Umbria and the Autonomous Province of Trento, as well as an additional 120 people from national associations.
photo: Photogram Agency
(ITALPRESS).
