2023-05-18 07:13:45
The severe storms in northern Italy’s Adriatic region of Emilia Romagna, which killed nine, have severely damaged agriculture and livestock, a key sector of the area’s economy. In the area between Forlì and Rimini alone, the fields suffered damage of one and a half billion euros, reported the Coldiretti agricultural association.
In Romagna and around Bologna, the storms and floods have destroyed one of the most important fruit and vegetable growing areas in Italy. The scenario is bleak: thousands of hectares are under water, several hectares of orchards are flooded. Stables are without electricity, warehouses have been flooded. Whole grain crops were also lost. There were also problems with the delivery of perishable food, which was halted by the closure of the A14 motorway, leading to further losses for farming businesses.
Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida assured that the government would intervene quickly to help communities affected by the storms and the heaviest rainfall in the last 30 years. He promised a government decree and the provision of adequate funds to deal with the damage. The farmers’ associations are calling for the government to intervene immediately with emergency legislation, as in the case of the earthquake that struck the area in 2012.
A total of 37 communities are completely under water. 21 rivers have burst their banks and 22 more are about to overflow. 250 landslides, 150 of them serious, were reported in the Apennine communities of the Emilia Romagna region. In Faenza, people climbed onto the roofs of their houses to save themselves from the tidal waves. Some people were taken to safety by helicopters. There were power outages in several parts of the city, and there were also problems with the telephone connections.
Several houses and businesses in the province of Ravenna were evacuated due to the risk of flooding. The Ravenna Municipality, with the support of local police, urged citizens living near rivers to go to the upper floors, Italian media reported. Accommodation in sports halls was offered to the evacuated people. In the small town of Castel Bolognese, which was experiencing problems with the drinking water supply, several citizens were evacuated from their homes. Drinking water was distributed with a tank truck.
According to the region’s vice president, Irene Priolo, “more than 10,000 people” were evacuated. According to the civil protection authority, 50,000 residents of the disaster region were without electricity on Wednesday. Delays occurred in the rail system, which also affected the high-speed trains on the north-south axis Milan-Rome. The road network in the affected area also came to a standstill.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government wants to give the Emilia Romagna region a helping hand. She called a Council of Ministers meeting for next Tuesday (May 23) at which funding for the areas affected by the severe weather emergency is to be eased. The cabinet wants to make at least ten million euros available for initial measures. Structural measures against landslides and floods will also be discussed.
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