Evacuations continue as Italy counts cost of deadly floods
Authorities in Ravenna issued an immediate evacuation order on Thursday for villages threatened by further floods after heavy rains left nine people dead in northeastern Italy.
Buses were being sent to help residents leave Villanova di Ravenna, Filetto and Roncalceci after the river Lamone burst its banks.
Nearly two dozen rivers and streams have flooded across the southeast of the Emilia Romagna region following downpours earlier this week, submerging entire neighbourhoods and farmland.
READ ALSO: 'Critical situation': Nine dead after flooding in northern Italy
More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and hundreds of landslides were reported, regional officials said.
Though meteorologists said they expected no significant rainfall on Thursday, the risk of further flooding remained.
The region's civil protection agency warned on Thursday morning of continued "instability in the central-eastern Apennine areas" and said floods in the areas Secchia, Panaro and Reno were spreading.
⚠️📑#MonitoraggioER Permane una instabilità sulle aree appenniniche centro orientali. Le piene di Secchia, Panaro e Reno si stanno propagando con livelli prossimi o superiori alle soglie 3.
➡️https://t.co/OK1m1ND9VF pic.twitter.com/crv4IX5ves
— allertameteoRER (@AllertaMeteoRER) May 18, 2023
"When we have six months of rain in 36 hours, falling where there had already been record rain two weeks ago, there is no territory that can hold
out," Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia Romagna region, told La7 television channel late Wednesday.
"We had an estimated two billion (euros) of damages two weeks ago... the ground no longer absorbs anything," Bonaccini said.
#Maltempo #EmiliaRomagna, ricognizione aerea dell'elicottero dei #vigilidelfuoco sulle zone alluvionate di Sant'Agata sul Santerno, nel ravennate [#18maggio 12:00] pic.twitter.com/Sm7Dcewcld
— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) May 18, 2023
Two people died in the same region earlier this month after 48 hours of almost continuous rain.
Italy's armed forces and the coastguard have joined the emergency effort, deploying helicopters to lift desperate residents from their homes and inflatable boats to reach houses surrounded on all sides by water.
Volunteer firefighters work in a street flooded by the river Savio in the Ponte Vecchio district of Cesena, central eastern Italy. (Photo by Alessandro SERRANO / AFP)
As the floods receded in some areas, residents were left cleaning homes and streets thick with mud and filled with debris.
"I've lived here since 1979, I've seen floods go by, but I've never seen anything like that," Edoardo Amadori, a resident of the city of Cesena, told AFP on Wednesday.
IN VIDEOS: How floods devastated Italy's Emilia-Romagna region
Thousands of farms in the fertile agricultural area were affected, but Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said the water would have to subside before the government could quantify the damage.
The flooding caused the cancellation of Sunday's Formula One Emilia RomagnaGrand Prix scheduled in Imola, with organisers saying they could not guarantee the safety of fans, teams and staff.
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Buses were being sent to help residents leave Villanova di Ravenna, Filetto and Roncalceci after the river Lamone burst its banks.
Nearly two dozen rivers and streams have flooded across the southeast of the Emilia Romagna region following downpours earlier this week, submerging entire neighbourhoods and farmland.
READ ALSO: 'Critical situation': Nine dead after flooding in northern Italy
More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and hundreds of landslides were reported, regional officials said.
Though meteorologists said they expected no significant rainfall on Thursday, the risk of further flooding remained.
The region's civil protection agency warned on Thursday morning of continued "instability in the central-eastern Apennine areas" and said floods in the areas Secchia, Panaro and Reno were spreading.
⚠️📑#MonitoraggioER Permane una instabilità sulle aree appenniniche centro orientali. Le piene di Secchia, Panaro e Reno si stanno propagando con livelli prossimi o superiori alle soglie 3.
— allertameteoRER (@AllertaMeteoRER) May 18, 2023
➡️https://t.co/OK1m1ND9VF pic.twitter.com/crv4IX5ves
"When we have six months of rain in 36 hours, falling where there had already been record rain two weeks ago, there is no territory that can hold
out," Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia Romagna region, told La7 television channel late Wednesday.
"We had an estimated two billion (euros) of damages two weeks ago... the ground no longer absorbs anything," Bonaccini said.
#Maltempo #EmiliaRomagna, ricognizione aerea dell'elicottero dei #vigilidelfuoco sulle zone alluvionate di Sant'Agata sul Santerno, nel ravennate [#18maggio 12:00] pic.twitter.com/Sm7Dcewcld
— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) May 18, 2023
Two people died in the same region earlier this month after 48 hours of almost continuous rain.
Italy's armed forces and the coastguard have joined the emergency effort, deploying helicopters to lift desperate residents from their homes and inflatable boats to reach houses surrounded on all sides by water.
As the floods receded in some areas, residents were left cleaning homes and streets thick with mud and filled with debris.
"I've lived here since 1979, I've seen floods go by, but I've never seen anything like that," Edoardo Amadori, a resident of the city of Cesena, told AFP on Wednesday.
IN VIDEOS: How floods devastated Italy's Emilia-Romagna region
Thousands of farms in the fertile agricultural area were affected, but Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said the water would have to subside before the government could quantify the damage.
The flooding caused the cancellation of Sunday's Formula One Emilia RomagnaGrand Prix scheduled in Imola, with organisers saying they could not guarantee the safety of fans, teams and staff.
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