Death toll from north-eastern Italian floods rises to 13

The rescue teams have located five bodies on Thursday afternoon, so the number of fatalities caused by severe flooding in the Emilia Romagna region (northeast) already rises to at least 13 people, while continuing looking for the missing

The last five bodies were located in the vicinity of the city of Ravennaon the Adriatic coast, and correspond, according to local media, to elderly people who could not leave their homes before the water left them completely flooded.

Early in the afternoon the bodies of a 73-year-old man and his wife, 71in his apartment in Russi, after his son alerted the emergency teams that he had lost contact with them.

Later, he was identified another old couple who was bedridden in his home in Sant’Agata sul Santerno and another elderly man from Castel Bolognese who decided not to leave his home when an emergency evacuation was announced.

Some media speak of a 14th fatality, which would correspond to a citizen who disappeared in Boncellino during the floods, which have caused more than 20,000 evacueesas well as enormous destruction that have affected electrical and telephone lines and viability in the area.

[Cancelado el GP de Emilia Romaña de Fórmula 1 por el temporal en Italia]

The weather forecast has improved in recent hours, although it could rain again during the weekendand schools in cities like Bologna and Casalecchio will open even if the state of emergency continues to be declared throughout the region.

The floods in Emilia Romagna have caused damage “for several billion euros”assured the president of this region of northeastern Italy, Stefano Bonaccini, who calculated that in 36 hours the rain of six months has fallen.

“The 30 million assigned by the Government are welcome and I appreciate that they make them available immediately, but here we are talking about billions of euros in damages only for the tragedy of May 2 and 3, when four-month-old water fell in 36 hours, while yesterday and the day before yesterday six months old water did it in 36 hours“, he explained on the Italian public television RAI.

In the provinces of Forlí, Ravenna, Cesena, Ravenna there are entire towns under water, a situation that could worsen in the next few hours, since the level of almost all the rivers is still above the emergency threshold.

In addition, more than 5,000 farms are floodedwith drowned animals and tens of thousands of hectares under water, reported Coldiretti, the largest agricultural and livestock association in Italy.

The Government, which has convened an extraordinary Council of Ministers next Tuesday, announced that it will allocate 20 million, which will add to the 10 million already approved a couple of weeks ago when the region suffered another flood, for the first emergencies, in addition to suspending the tax obligations and mortgages for a while.