First modification:
At least nine people died due to the devastating rains and the consequent floods in the early hours of this September 16, in the Marche region, in central Italy. Authorities assess the damage, while rescuers try to find at least four missing people.
Death, destruction and rubble. The picture is bleak in the Marche region, in central Italy. Torrential rains lashed several cities, leaving dozens of cars overturned, shops flooded and roads blocked.
The phenomenon, which surprised the inhabitants in the early hours of this Friday, September 16, leaves at least nine people dead and four missing. Among the latter are at least two children, including one who was torn from the arms of his mother, in the town of Barbara.
“It was like an earthquake,” Ludovico Caverni, mayor of Serra Sant’Abbondio, another town affected by the floods, described to state-run Italian Radio and Television (RAI).
Faced with the strong storm, dozens of residents climbed onto roofs and trees to escape the waters and wait for rescue.
Images released by fire departments showed rescuers on rafts trying to evacuate people in the coastal town of Senigallia, while others tried to clear an underpass of debris.
Firefighters operating in the area have rescued dozens of residents and about 50 people have been treated in hospitals for injuries.
About 400 millimeters of rain fell in two to three hours, a third of the amount normally received in a year, the Civil Protection agency said.
“My greengrocer has been turned upside down,” said Luciana Agostinelli, a resident of Cantiano, a town near the neighboring region of Umbria, where residents along with bulldozer operators work hard to remove mud, as well as household and business items. destroyed.
“It is an irreversible phenomenon, a sample of what our future will be”
The surprise storm was recorded, after the worst drought in Italy in seven decades during the summer.
Experts say global warming wreaks havoc on weather patterns and makes flooding more likely in drought-affected areas because the ground is too dry to absorb water quickly.
“It is an irreversible phenomenon, a sample of what our future will be,” said Paola Pino d’Astore, an expert from the Italian Society of Environmental Geology (SIGEA), who explained that the floods are a consequence of climate change, so they do not they are easy to predict.
This is an evaluation that was supported by Civil Protection, since the rains that hit the region were much stronger than what the meteorological authorities had forecast.
“They gave us a normal alert for rain, but nobody expected something like this,” said Stefano Aguzzi, head of Civil Protection for the regional government.
Flash floods in Italy’s eastern #marche region last night leave 7 people dead in the province of Ancona, with several still missing on Friday. This video, by TgLa7, shows the village of Cantiano after more than 400 mm of rain fell in a few hours.pic.twitter.com/9g1gEyCZnV
— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) September 16, 2022
Meanwhile, authorities assess the damage. The head of the National Civil Protection Agency, Fabrizio Curcio, met with local officials in Ancona, the Marche capital, to determine the losses.
The mayor of Barbara reported that at least 1,300 of its residents were left without drinking water and that telephone service is spotty.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the political parties campaigning for the general elections on September 25 have expressed their solidarity.
Enrico Letta, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, said he would suspend campaigning in the Marche region “in mourning” and allow his local activists to take part in efforts to help communities affected by the floods.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
Add Comment