Genoa's flood nightmare
continued Monday as fresh bouts of torrential rain pelted the
northwestern city after Friday's inundation that caused millions
of euros in damage and killed one person.
The thunderstorms deepened the plight of a city that has
been brought to its knees by flooding for the second time in the
last three years.
Two trains were left stranded in the Genoa area on Monday
as the flood emergency went on.
The trains were blocked by lines being flooded at the
towns of Campo Ligure and Rossiglione.
No alarm was raised and preventive action was not taken in
spite of 2011 floods in which six people died.
As the damage built up despite the efforts of hundreds of
relief teams and volunteers from across Italy, the Genoa public
prosecutor's office said it had opened a probe into possible
man-made disaster stemming from incomplete or lacking public
works that were supposed to have shored up the city's flood
defences.
Another violent downpour deluged the beleaguered port city
as the army worked side by side with local residents to sandbag
riverbanks in the nearby town of Novi Ligure ahead of possible
new floods.
In nearby Montoggio, soldiers and residents stacked
artificial barriers to protect the central square.
Genoa prosecutors opened a man-made disaster investigation
after the flash floods that killed one man and covered the
metropolitan area in mud.
Investigators will look into flood prevention measures,
riverbed maintenance, failure to raise the alarm, the city's
civil protection plan, and administrators' actions.
Residents of the port city are angered that no alarm was
raised, especially in light of the 2011 disaster.
Insult was added to injury by reports that several city
officials have been paid bonuses for their work to prevent
disasters by improving security around Genoa's many water
bodies.
There is anger at the fact that 35 million euros set aside
for flood-prevention work after the 2011 disaster were not spent
because of legal wrangles and bureaucracy.
Prosecutors said the investigation is looking at aerial
photos taken by the finance guard and a report issued by a panel
of experts after the 2011 floods, and will focus on actions
taken or not taken over the past three years.
A manslaughter probe is also underway, officials said.
"Genoa is the symbol of a country blocked by rules and
this can have disastrous consequences," the head of of Italy's
anti-corruption authority, Raffaele Cantone, told State
broadcaster RAI.
"Reflection is required. The situation is emblematic. The
tenders for the works had been issue and then there were appeals
that blocked them.
Meanwhile the government said that as much as 50 million
euros in funds released by the government's so-called Unblock
Italy decree will be used to accelerate flood security
operations in Genoa.
The decree aims to free up billions of euros in funding for
infrastructure projects, including new highways, railways, and
major airport renovations, and help the recession-hit economy.
Premier Matteo Renzi's government also pledged to release
95 million euros for flood protection work on Genoa's Bisagno
River, Mayor Marco Doria said Monday.
The Bisagno was the biggest of several Genoa waterways
to burst their banks after torrential rain last week, causing
flash floods that wreaked havoc and killed one person.
Meanwhile across the border in Piedmont, part of the region
bordering on Liguria was under emergency alert Monday after
torrential rainfall triggered evacuations and the shutdown of
provincial roads as several rivers overflowed their banks.
The town of Gavi Ligure was hit the hardest, with 20 people
evacuated from their homes and meter-high water running down the
streets.
The town of Novi Ligure was also flooded, including three
underpasses and the public hospital intensive-care unit.
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