Still many thunderstorms throughout Italy for at least another 7-8 days. These are the weather forecasts that show a still unstable start to June, after a month of May marked by bad weather and related dramatic events. From north to south, Italy is suffering from climate change with extreme events forcing the population to take sudden action.
SOS DAMAGES
In Italy, 13 water storms and violent hailstorms from north to south hit cities and countryside in a single day. This is what emerges from the analysis of Coldiretti on Eswd data (European severe weather database) in reference to the wave of bad weather in spring that strikes with patchy extreme events along the peninsula causing losses to agriculture between national agricultural production and damage to structures and infrastructure. “The fact that in the last 50 years almost 1 out of 3 agricultural land has disappeared (-30%) with the usable agricultural area in Italy reduced to just 12,” reports the agricultural organization. 8 million hectares.For this – continues Coldiretti – Italy must defend its agricultural heritage and its availability of fertile land with adequate social, cultural and economic recognition of the role of the activity in the countryside”. In the immediate future, says the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini “it is necessary to intervene with concrete aid to help the affected populations” but, he underlines that “we need to accelerate the approval of the law on soil consumption which has been lying in Parliament for years and which could equip Italy of a cutting-edge tool for the protection of its territory”.
IN THE DAY OF YESTERDAY
LOMBARDY
A violent storm accompanied by an exceptional hailstorm hit the upper part of the hill in the evening Lake Garda. Especially affected was the town of Torbole (Trento), a well-known tourist resort on the outskirts of Riva, on the border with the province of Verona. The storm, with strong winds, soon turned into a hail storm that continued for a long time, which in the end caused extensive flooding, with the grains forming a homogeneous surface of ice, like in a snowfall. The phenomenon also made traffic on the Gardesana impossible; water and hail invaded the streets of the center of Torbole, already frequented by a good number of tourists in recent weeks. No damage to people has been reported, nor are there any news of critical situations from the point of view of safety.
Violent storm on Lake Garda, hailstorm in Torbole
SARDINIA
A violent storm hit in the early afternoon at Carbonia, in Sulcis. The water flooded streets, basements and the ground floors of houses and buildings, despite the fact that the municipality had already completed the cleaning of the channels. Many inconveniences for motorists, who suddenly found themselves with submerged roads and reduced visibility to a minimum. About ten interventions by the firefighters in various areas of the city, in particular in via Angioy, via della Stazione and Corso Iglesias. Mayor Pietro Morittu has activated the Municipal Operations Center for constant monitoring of the situation and has decided to cancel the public events scheduled for today. But the worst is over. “Currently it has stopped raining – confirms the mayor to ANSA – According to the data in our possession, 64 millimeters of water have fallen in the city in 90 minutes, on average 600 a year. And this has sent the roads”.
Bad weather, storm in Carbonia: 64 millimeters of rain in 90 minutes
HERE IS THE SITUATION IN THE REGIONS ON ALERT
SARDINIA
Destroyed roads, flooded houses, damaged businesses, landslides, collapses and flooded streams. Today in Thiesi and Bonnanaro, in the Sassarese area, the damage from the storm that hit the Meilogu area for about an hour is being counted.
In the two most affected centers, by order of the mayors, schools remain closed today. Both to avoid travel and to check for any damage to school buildings. The rescue machine, with civil protection and the fire brigade at the forefront, remains in a state of maximum alert: new and violent rainfall is expected today starting from the early hours of the afternoon. In Bonnanaro there was considerable damage to the municipal sports field, where the retaining wall that protected the facility collapsed, and to the riding track, overwhelmed by the wave of water and mud.
Impossible to count the number of flooded homes and businesses, the enclosure and retaining walls crumbled by the force of the water almost everywhere in the country. Two houses have been evacuated and are unusable, another, fortunately uninhabited, collapsed under the weight of the rain.
Even the roads entering the town were heavily damaged: at the junction for the industrial area, the drainage channels were blocked by debris and the fury of the water overwhelmed everything: “We are doing everything possible to limit the inconvenience to the citizens, but the situation is really serious. The condition of many roads is worrying, we are trying to coordinate with Anas for the most urgent interventions”, says the mayor Giovanni Antonio Carta.
CAMPANIA
The Civil Protection of the Campania Region has issued a new yellow weather alert valid from 14 to 21 today throughout Campania. Sudden thunderstorms are still possible, but sudden and intense. The strong atmospheric instability also deriving from climate change makes sudden storm phenomena possible, with rapid and intense evolution. In some points of the territory they could also be accompanied by lightning, hail and gusts of wind. There is a possible hydrogeological risk due to thunderstorms with flooding, rise in watercourse levels, water flow in roadways, runoffs with transport of material, falling rocks or landslides in fragile areas. The Civil Protection of the Campania Region recommends the competent authorities to activate the Municipal Operational Centres, to put in place all the measures aimed at preventing, contrasting and mitigating the expected phenomena in line with the respective municipal civil protection plans and to ensure the correct reception of messages from the regional Operations room. In consideration of the gusts of wind and possible hailstorms, we point out the need to guarantee the tightness of the public green areas and of the temporary structures exposed to atmospheric events.
PIEDMONT
Railway traffic was suspended from 7.55 am due to damage caused by bad weather in the Cuneo area, between Fossano and Mondovì. The intervention of technicians has been requested to allow the regular resumption of traffic: Trenitalia reports that regional trains may be subject to delays and route limitations. During the night, a storm hit the municipalities of Mondovì and Magliano Alpi with particular intensity, where several reports of flooding reached the fire brigade operations centre. (HANDLE).
Rain, hail and lightning hit Verbano-Cusio-Ossola yesterday evening: the most affected area is precisely that of the capital Verbania, where a violent hailstorm erupted around 9 pm. In the districts of Intra and Pallanza, some streets quickly filled up with water, causing flooding in garages and cellars.
In Madonna del Sasso, a municipality of Cusio, around 11pm lightning struck the church in the hamlet of Boleto, compromising the stability of the bell tower, damaging the roof and causing water infiltration. The firefighters worked late into the night to secure the area, which is currently unusable. Structural checks are underway. Even some houses adjacent to the church, explained the mayor Ezio Barbetta, suffered minor damage.
In total there were about twenty interventions carried out during the night by the firefighters of the Vco command.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF BAD WEATHER
EMILIA ROMAGNA
Bad weather in Emilia Romagna destroyed a soft wheat crop of about 30,000 hectares, equivalent to the production of 200 million kilos of bread. This is the estimate of the damage caused by the flood in Emilia Romagna for the cereal sector of Coldiretti and Cai-Consorzi Agrari d’Italia, presented on the occasion of the ‘Giornate in Campo 2023’ event. A loss that reduces the estimates on the national production of wheat, with Emilia-Romagna which is to all intents and purposes a cereal district of absolute importance: out of about 570,000 hectares of soft wheat nationwide in the region, 160,000 are estimated this year , just under 30% of the entire national surface. Going into detail at the regional level, thanks to the monitoring of Coldiretti and Cai, the flood caused a cut in production of between 12% and 15% of wheat, concentrated between Forlì, Cesena, Ravenna and Faenza and partly in the Bolognese and Rimini.
Source: Ansa
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