Devastated Italians begin cleanup after deadly floods killed 14 people

‘It is a tragedy’: Devastated Italians begin cleanup after deadly floods killed 14 people and left entire towns submerged beneath water as PM Georgia Meloni visits holiday region struck by disaster

Rain has stopped today but red weather alert was extended to tomorrow, May 22
Extreme weather saw six months worth of rainfall come down in just 36 hours
36,000 people were displaced by incessant rains in Emilia Romagna this week

Devastated Italians have started the cleanup after deadly floods killed 14 people and left entire towns submerged in water as Prime Minister Georgia Meloni visited the holiday region struck by disaster.

The downpour of rain has stopped today and rescue teams and local volunteers were trying to pump out buildings and sweep away mud caking the streets before it could set hard under the sun.

At least 36,000 people were displaced by the incessant rains in Emilia Romagna earlier this week and many of those who remained in flooded areas were left without electricity. Some 10,000 of those displaced had been able to go home by tonight.

The devastating floods killed at least 14 people in the region, among them a couple in their 70s who were found dead in their flooded apartment in Russi, Ravenna province, after their son had alerted authorities after not hearing from them.

There are fears the death toll could rise further as several others are still missing and some towns in Ravenna are still submerged by water and thick mud.

The rain has stopped today and rescue teams and local volunteers were trying to pump out buildings and sweep away mud caking the streets before it could set hard under the sun

36,000 people were displaced by the incessant rains in Emilia Romagna earlier this week and many of those who remained in flooded areas were left without electricity. Some 10,000 of those displaced had been able to go home by tonight. 14 people were killed in the floods

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) donned wellington boots and visited flooded homes in northeast Italy today, after returning early from the G7 summit in Japan following the deadly floods

The extreme weather, which saw six months worth of rainfall come down in just 36 hours, has caused widespread damage as the force of water sent torrents of mud tearing through entire towns in Emilia Romagna, flooding storefronts and basements.

The muddy rivers tearing through the streets of Emilia Romagna’s towns also hit farmers hard in an area which grows corn and grain as well as fruit such as apricots, peaches, kiwis and cherries.

The rain had stopped in most places today, though a red weather alert was extended to tomorrow, May 22.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni donned wellington boots and visited flooded homes in northeast Italy today, after returning early from the G7 summit in Japan following the deadly floods.

Meloni, who shook hands with mud-splattered home owners and volunteers, found speaking to those who had lost everything a ‘moving’ experience.

‘You’re doing a great job,’ the prime minister told a resident in Ghibullo who was donating food to the newly homeless, according to a video posted by Italian broadcaster Rai.

‘It has been a tragedy but we can always recover strongly from crises,’ Meloni told reporters in the city of Ravenna, one of the areas badly affected.

The extreme weather, which saw six months worth of rainfall come down in just 36 hours, has caused widespread damage and hit farmers hard in an area which grows corn and grain as well as fruit such as apricots, peaches, kiwis and cherries

Meloni, who shook hands with mud-splattered home owners and volunteers, found speaking to those who had lost everything a ‘moving’ experience

The rain had stopped in most places today, though a red weather alert was extended to tomorrow, May 22

‘It has been a tragedy but we can always recover strongly from crises,’ Meloni told reporters in the city of Ravenna, one of the areas badly affected

The prime minister, who leads a right-wing government, said the damage was huge but it was hard to put a figure on the financial impact. ‘We will find the resources needed,’ she added, saying Italy might call upon the European Union’s Solidarity Fund for natural disasters

The Italian government will hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to decide on measures to respond to the emergency. Having witnessed some of the damage, Meloni said she would spend Monday reviewing plans to support recovery efforts

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Fdr1ZfqSaq8%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

The prime minister, who leads a right-wing government, said the damage was huge but it was hard to put a figure on the financial impact.

‘We will find the resources needed,’ she added, saying Italy might call upon the European Union’s Solidarity Fund for natural disasters.

Fellow leaders at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima had also offered various forms of support, she added.

Meloni left the summit in Hiroshima a day earlier than scheduled, saying her conscience would not allow her to stay away longer.

A football team in the region, Cesena FC, has ditched their training schedule to help people affected by the floods.

The Serie C team from Emilia Romagna has contributed to the clean up efforts by taking destroyed furniture and other items out of flood-affected houses and scrubbing away the mud in wellington boots.

They also cleared the area around the Carisport training ground, which had been flooded.

A football team in the region, Cesena FC, has ditched their training schedule to help people affected by the floods

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EZN0lkyr01g%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26start%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

The Serie C team from Emilia Romagna has contributed to the clean up efforts by taking destroyed furniture and other items out of flood-affected houses and scrubbing away the mud in wellington boots

Volunteers helped residents to clear streets and houses by shoveling mud in neighborhoods that have been submerged by water and mud in Forli, near Ravenna

Two volunteers took a break of shoveling the mud off the streets in Forli as they are working against the clock, trying to get the mud off before the sun dries it out

Residents carry water-damaged furniture outside as the clean up efforts are underway

Displaced residents were seeking shelter in gyms in the area, where they shared stories and food with their neighbours – and even animals that people rescued from the floods.

Ludmilla distracts herself from the memories of rising flood waters by tidying up around her makeshift bed in a gym at Castel Bolognese sheltering some of those who lost their homes.

The 66-year-old has befriended young volunteers, who have agreed to come with her Sunday to inspect her damaged house in the nearby village of Solarolo and start cleaning up.

Moment eco activists are dragged out of Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain by police after they turned water black with charcoal dye in fossil fuels protest

She doesn’t expect to be able to move back in for at least a month though, after devastating floods which pummelled the Emilia Romagna region in northeast Italy this week, leaving 14 people dead.

It happened ‘without warning,’ says Ludmilla, who moved to Italy from Ukraine 16 years ago, and who did not want to give her last name.

‘They said ‘a little bit of water will come, a little bit’,’ she notes, but she and her 97-year-old husband soon found themselves up to their waists in water.

‘My husband said ‘I’ve seen three wars, but I’ve never seen anything like this’,’ she adds.

‘We were stuck there, without water, without food. I called the fire brigade, the police.

‘They were good people, as are the volunteers here,’ she says. ‘There’s food, there’s everything’.

Ludmilla’s husband was taken to hospital. She can only wait here for the waters to recede, as volunteers move among the rows of beds, boxes of donated food and essential items.

A few beds away, neighbours Alfonso Brocchi and Iolanda Soglia are going back over what happened.

‘At three am, the upstairs neighbour called me and said ‘Alfonso, come up, the water is coming’,’ says Brocchi, 76, who rushed to help Soglia, who has muscular dystrophy.

His son had called the fire brigade to get them out, but Brocchi was not sure how to reach them.

‘I could get a step ladder and get through the window, but she couldn’t,’ Brocchi said. ‘So they (the firemen) said “open the door”. And when I opened the door it was like a rushing river.’

The pair were rescued along with a 102-year-old woman, and taken by the fire brigade to the shelter.

Displaced residents were seeking shelter in gyms in the area, where they shared stories and food with their neighbours – and even animals that people rescued from the floods

Other displaced people are expected to arrive at the shelter in a few hours, but the beds are not only for them

Volunteers from the civil protection and rescue workers also take the opportunity to grab a few hours sleep between shifts, or wind down over a hot meal

The shelter team hopes its efforts will help the freshly homeless to lead a life as normal as possible

Other displaced people are expected to arrive in a few hours, but the beds are not only for them.

Volunteers from the civil protection and rescue workers also take the opportunity to grab a few hours sleep between shifts, or wind down over a hot meal.

Some 200 of the 10,000 or so residents in Castel Bolognese were evacuated last Monday as a precaution, before the floods hit overnight.

The muddy waters which swept through the streets left a trail of desolation behind.

At the entrance to the gym, paper towels, blankets and bags of donated clothes are piled up along the wall in a line which lengthens as the day goes on.

The general hubbub is soothing, lulling the weary to sleep.

The shelter team hopes its efforts will help the freshly homeless to lead a life as normal as possible.

‘After this disaster, it is important that everyone feels at home here,’ says Paola Barilli, 52, who is in charge of some 60 volunteers.

‘Everyone is welcome, even animals’, she adds.

And as if to prove her right, among the guests is a family which brought its nine cats along.

Source: Read Full Article