Emilia-Romagna was on red alert on
Saturday and will remain so Sunday with rain retuning to the
northeastern region after this week's devastating floods that
claimed 14 lives.
Vast areas are still under water and landslides are a massive
problem, especially in areas in the Apennines.
Emilia-Romagna Deputy Governor and Civil Protection Chief Irene
Priolo said that around 100 municipalities in the region had
suffered damage due to the floods, three time the number
affected by the devastating earthquake that struck the region in
2012.
"Seen from above, the territory looks like it has been bombed,"
Priolo told a news conference.
"It's shocking".
The number of people who have been evacuated from their homes
because of the floods has risen to more than 36,600, the
regional government said on Saturday.
Most of them, 27,775, had to leave their homes in the province
of Ravenna, where the situation is particularly bad, with
drinking water and food in short supply in some areas.
Then there were 4,830 in the province of Forlì-Cesena and 4,012
in the Bologna area.
Of these people 4,963 people are being put up in hotels or in
temporary dormitories set up by local councils in schools,
sports halls and gyms.
The rest have found alternative solutions, going to holiday
homes or getting put up by families or friends
This week's extreme weather comes after Emilia Romagna was hit
by storms that claimed two lives at the start of the month.
Scientists say that extreme weather events like heat waves,
supercharged storms, flooding and droughts are becoming more
frequent and more intense because of climate change caused by
human greenhouse-gas emissions.
"A connection between what is happening at the moment in
Emilia-Romagna and the consequences of climate change exists,"
said Mauro Rossi, a researcher for the National Research
Council's Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection
(CNR-IRPI).
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