The firefighters continue this Friday with the rescue people in isolated villages or who have been trapped at home, 48 hours after severe flooding that has caused at least 14 deaths and more than 20,000 evacuees from the Italian region of Emilia Romagna (northeast), while new rains are feared with almost all rivers on alert.
The finding of the victim number 14an 84-year-old man who was found dead in the mud in the courtyard of his house in Faenza, was announced live by the president of the region, Stefano Bonacciniwhile taking part in a television program.
Rescue operations are complex due to the numerous breakdowns reported in the electrical and telephone networks, since many people are no possibility to communicatein addition to the fact that dozens of regional roads are impassable due to landslides.
Even at night flooding continued in some parts in Ravennawhere the City Council ordered the evacuation of the houses of some streets where the water was rising dangerously, according to the local media.
In several towns there are still homes without electricity and drinking waterwhile in the Apennines some localities are isolated due to landslides, particularly in the Forlì area.
“It is a unique emergency of its kind, which has not occurred for more than 100 years.”, declared the Prefect of Ravenna, castrese de rosa.
Five lifeless bodies were found on Thursday afternoon: the farmer couple Delio and Dorotea Foschini, aged 73 and 71, who died at their home in the province of Ravenna, while the bodies of two men and a 95-year-old woman.
Schools in cities such as Bologna and Casalecchio have opened today, although the state of emergency continues throughout the region.
The regional environmental agency of Emilia Romagna confirmed that the Red alertalthough the weather forecasts have improved in the last hours, but it is feared that it will rain again during the weekend when the rivers are still in a state of alert for flooding.
“dramatic situation”
The president of the Emilia Romagna region, Stefano Bonaccinistated in the last hours that “the situation is truly dramatic in many areas. We had decreed a meteorological alert with the closure of schools and limitation of movement, but the amount of water that fell in some areas exceeded that which fell two weeks ago, which was already an unprecedented amount.
The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarellacontacted Bonaccini to express his “closeness and solidarity” with the affected populations.
The prime minister, Giorgia MeloniHe also expressed his “total closeness to the affected population” and, through Twitter, stated that the Government was closely following the events and was prepared to provide help.
“The road system is complex, with many streets flooded. It is difficult to transit if you do not have equipped vehicles. There are also problems in the national road system and there is disruption to regional rail services and across the Adriatic stretch. The invitation is to adopt measures of maximum cautionthe emergency has not ended, we must listen to the indications”, said the deputy director of the Italian Civil Protection Department, Titti Postiglione, to channel Rai News.
Weather catastrophes are increasing in Italy. Heavy rains in Emilia Romagna followed weeks of drought that dried up the land, reducing its water absorption capacity and worsening the impact of floods.
(With information from EFE and Reuters)
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Source-www.infobae.com