2023-05-18 15:53:06
The floods that hit Emilia-Romagna on Wednesday May 17in the center of theItalycaused the death of at least eleven people, two new bodies having been found on Thursday.
Two officials from the police headquarters and the municipality of Ravenna confirmed to AFP these last two deaths, the media indicating that they are a couple of farmers aged over 70, found dead in their apartment flooded with water.
Many villages evacuated
The Italian authorities continued Thursday to evacuate new localities in the region hit by the floods.
About 20 rivers have left their beds in the south-east of Emilia-Romagna due to the torrential rains that have hit the region in recent days, which have also caused landslides, according to regional authorities.
More than 10,000 residents in total had to leave their homes. The rain stopped mid-afternoon on Wednesday and meteorologists do not expect significant precipitation on Thursday. However, coaches have been chartered to remove the inhabitants of the municipalities of Villanova di Ravenna, Filetto and Boncalceci threatened by the flooding of the Lamone river.
“When we have six months of rain in 36 hours when there was already record rainfall two weeks ago, no territory can resist,” lamented Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia-Romagna region, on Wednesday. “The ground no longer absorbs anything”.
Two people died in the same region earlier this month after 48 hours of near-uninterrupted rain that caused damage estimated at two billion euros.
Italian armed forces and the coast guard joined the emergency effort, deploying helicopters and inflatable boats to reach homes surrounded by water.
Where the waters receded, residents worked to clean up mud-covered houses and streets littered with debris.
Thousands of farms in this fertile agricultural region have been affected.
The floods led to the cancellation of the Grand Prix of Formula 1 of Emilia-Romagna scheduled for Sunday in Imola.
With AFP
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