Over 36,000 people displaced by Italy floods

Over 36,000 people displaced by Italy floods
By Helene Dauschy
Ghibullo, Italy (AFP) May 20, 2023

More than 36,000 people have now been forced from their homes by deadly floods in northeast Italy, regional officials said Saturday, as rising waters swallowed more houses and fresh landslides isolated hamlets

Violent downpours earlier this week killed 14 people, transforming streets in the cities and towns of the Emilia Romagna region into rivers.

And as more rain fell, regional authorities extended the red weather alert to Sunday.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Saturday she was leaving the G7 summit in Japan early to deal with the emergency.

"Frankly I cannot remain so far from Italy in such a complex moment," she told reporters, thanking the 5,000 people -- from rescue workers to volunteers -- mobilised to help those hit by the floods.

She also thanked her fellow G7 leaders for their offers of aid.

Meloni was expected to visit some of the worst-hit areas on Sunday.

The authorities in Ravenna on Saturday ordered the immediate evacuation of more at-risk hamlets.

A helicopter involved in attempts to restore electricity crashed Saturday near Lugo, injuring one of the four people on board, the fire service said.

Six months' worth of rain fell in 36 hours in the Emilia-Romagna region, with the floods described as the worst the country has seen in a century.

The floods have caused over 305 landslides and damaged or closed over 500 roads in the region.

"The water began to rise at 2:00 pm (on Friday), coming from across the fields," after nearby canals were swollen by flooded rivers, electrician Mauro Lodola told AFP.

"It's difficult. I want it to be over quickly, to be able to go forwards... to pick ourselves up," the 54-year-old said, standing thigh-high in the dirty water surrounding his house.

Lodola choked up as he showed his ruined house, the water lapping around the fridge in the kitchen and against the mattress on his bed, which was piled high with salvaged furniture.

Outside, a white door floated past a shed, where chickens who had been moved to safety clucked nervously.

Bologna's mayor Matteo Lepore said Saturday it would take "months, and in some places maybe years" for roads and infrastructure to be repaired.

Meloni to cut short G7 trip over Italy floods: diplomatic source
Hiroshima, Japan (AFP) May 20, 2023 - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will leave the G7 summit in Hiroshima early and return home to deal with devastating floods that have killed 14 people, a diplomatic source said Saturday.

Six months' worth of rain fell in 36 hours in the Emilia-Romagna region, with the floods described as the worst the country has seen in a century.

The source said Meloni would leave the summit on Saturday evening, returning home a day before talks close on Sunday.

A final communique has already been issued, and Meloni has also met with the summit's surprise guest star -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Leaders at the gathering in the Japanese city have offered their support to Meloni, who shared images of the disaster during talks.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that France was "ready to provide every useful help".

Offers of aid as Italy reels from 'worst flood in a century'
Faenza, Italy (AFP) May 19, 2023 - Italy received offers of international aid on Friday for floods, described as its worst for a century, which killed 14 people and left thousands stranded in waterlogged homes or in evacuation centres.

As some areas began the clean-up following downpours earlier this week, others were newly evacuated on Thursday and authorities extended a red weather alert in parts of the Emilia Romagna region, where nearly two dozen rivers have broken their banks.

A mammoth rescue effort is underway after six months' rain fell in 36 hours, with emergency services and the armed forces searching for people stuck in their homes -- and those who lost their lives.

The latest victim found was a man recovered from a house in Faenza, a picturesque city usually surrounded by green pastures and vineyards left largely underwater.

"As Italy reels from the worst flooding there in a century, WHO Europe sends condolences for the lives lost," tweeted Hans Kluge, World Health Organization regional director for Europe, saying it was "ready to support... as needed".

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni shared images of the disaster with fellow G7 leaders at their summit in Japan, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to tweet that France was "ready to provide every useful help".

Stefano Bonaccini, head of the Emilia Romagna region, called for a national plan to mitigate the impact of natural disasters, saying: "This must never happen again."

Over 15,000 people have been evacuated from their homes across the region, as farmers survey the damage that Bonaccini has compared to an earthquake.

Over half the evacuees were expected to spend the night in local refuge centres set up in gyms or hotels.

Others received hot meals from mobile kitchens deployed in several cities.

- 'Lost everything' -

AFP reporters in Faenza found residents shovelling mud out of their homes, piling sodden mattresses, clothes and furniture together in mountains of waste.

"I lost everything except for these pyjamas," said Fred Osazuwa, 58, as he surveyed the mess left of his home.

"But me and my family, we are alive. I thank God."

Pierluigi Randi, head of weather experts' association Ampro, told the Repubblica daily it was the worst flood to affect Italy in a century.

The mayor of nearby Casola Valsenio, Giorgio Sagrini, told SkyTG24: "Landslides have cut us off from the rest of the world."

"There are families stuck in their houses," he said.

The town of Lugo was one of several reporting that food and water supplies were "running low".

"We know you are tired, scared and worried," the council said to its residents in a Facebook post.

"The emergency is not over... As much as possible, stay calm and be patient," it said.

- 'Climb as high as possible' -

Authorities in Ravenna ordered several small towns to be evacuated on Thursday, while officials warned of the plight of hamlets up in the hills surrounding the city.

As rescue workers searched the filthy, debris-strewn waters, details emerged of the final moments of some of those who died.

Marina Giocometti told Corriere della Sera of the last moments of her neighbour, 75-year-old Giovanni Pavani, who was on the phone to her when waters began rushing in.

She advised him to stand on the table and said she would call the emergency services but the line suddenly cut out, she said.

One mother, Fabiana, 36, told Corriere she would "never forget" the selflessness of the man -- a Serbian cook called Dorde -- who helped carry her son to safety.

"I told my son it was a game and he had to climb as high as possible up whoever picked him up," she said.

- Sodden fruit -

The downpour caused billions of euros' (dollars') worth of damage, just a fortnight after the region was hit by another round of floods that left two people dead.

In Reda, near Faenza, 84-year-old farmer Giovanni Frega showed AFP his sodden peach and apricot trees and vines.

He is hoping the water will evaporate when the weather clears up but said there is a risk of falling fruit rotting.

"With all this water, the earth can't breathe," he said.

Formula One -- which cancelled Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola -- on Friday said it was donating one million euros ($1.1 million) to relief operations, matching a pledge made by Ferrari.

The disaster has prompted questions nationally as to why more is not being done to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Experts warn such disasters are becoming the norm due to human-induced climate change, which is exacerbating both droughts and storms.

According to the Legambiente environmental association, 6.8 million Italians live in flood risk areas.

In 2014, then prime minister Matteo Renzi set up a task force called Italia Sicura (Safe Italy), entrusted with flood and landslide prevention.

But it was scrapped in 2018 by Giuseppe Conte -- head of a coalition government uniting the populist Five Star Movement and right-wing League -- and replaced with a project that failed to get off the ground.

Bereft but alive: dazed residents clean-up after Italy floods
Faenza, Italy (AFP) May 19, 2023 - "I lost everything except for these pyjamas," said Fred Osazuwa, bewildered and covered in mud, as he surveyed the mess left of his home after Italy's deadly floods.

"But me and my family, we are alive. I thank god... we are OK," the 58-year-old told AFP in Faenza, one of the areas hardest hit after heavy rains caused devastation across the northeastern Emilia Romagna region.

At least 14 people have been confirmed dead in the floods, the latest a man in Faenza, a picturesque city usually surrounded by green pastures and vineyards but this week left largely underwater.

Standing in thick mud, Osazuwa described how his kitchen was submerged after flood waters rose by two metres in just a few hours.

Now he and his wife, helped by friends, have brought out the fridge, washing machine, food and piles of clothes as they try to clean up inside.

In the building opposite, Tommaso Conti goes back and forth with his broom, trying to make a dent in the mud and water that filled the cellars when the nearby Lamone river burst its banks.

"We started early this morning and will probably be working all day," said the 21-year-old, adding that they were hoping a tractor would come to help them soon.

This is not his own home, "but we know people who live here and it seemed right to lend a hand", he said.

- Situation improves -

Half a year's worth of water fell in just 36 hours earlier this week, causing almost two dozen rivers in the region around Ravenna, Cesena and Forli to burst their banks, submerging neighbourhoods and huge tracts of farmland.

In Faenza, as elsewhere, many of the 60,000 residents have pulled together to try to restore some sense of order in their water-logged streets and homes.

"We have already done a good job, the situation has improved in two days ago, but we still have to clean everything up," said 34-year-old student Yuri Galeotti.

He considers himself "lucky" to live on the third floor of his building -- the basement was flooded, but water did not reach his apartment.

"All the neighbours who are on the ground or first floors had two metres of water, and everything has to be thrown away," he said.

On the road behind him, breakdown vehicles remove cars submerged or swept away in the floodwaters.

Further down the street, a family use shovels and brooms to try to clear the debris, with little effect.

Mud clings to everything, and it starts to rain again.