Bad weather in Bologna, in support of Piacenza firefighters

From the evening of Saturday 16 November there were more than thirty interventions that firefighters carried out due to bad weather in Bologna and the province, many are still in progress with a dozen teams and sixty police officers engaged. Flooded underpasses and cellars, unsafe trees, fallen branches that blocked roads, damage to roofs and landslides on the hills.

To cope with these emergency activities, the support of the Piacenza command was therefore requested, who sent a team to Bologna.

The regional press release – The wave of severe bad weather that has hit Emilia-Romagna in these hours is creating critical situations especially in the provinces of Bologna and Ferrara due to the rapid rise in river levels. The state of red alert remains, which does not exclude the risk of overflow of water courses.

The intense rainfall of the last 48 hours has created three floods at close range with alarm situations, especially in the Bologna area. The river Reno is reaching the height of flood in Casalecchio (a height of 2 meters and 20) and will arrive in the late afternoon / evening in Cento (Fe). The Napoleonic cable plant was opened to contain part of the flood of the Rhine. The flood will flow into the Ferrara area in the next 48 hours. The Samoggia, Idice and Sillaro rivers have reached level 3. At the moment there are more contained but widespread flooding. In Medicina the technicians are at work for a fountain on the Quaderna stream.

Critical issues also in Bentivoglio and Budrio in the Fossatone area due to floods affecting the plain transversal, road SP3. In Budrio there was a failure in the right bank at the railway bridge. Criticality due to marginal overlap in Baricella between Ubersetto and Boschi streets.

In the Modena area, heavy rainfall has raised the level of the rivers and created flooding in the plains and in the hills; landslides caused the closure of some provincial roads in the Apennines. In many municipalities in the Modena Apennines, technicians of electricity and gas companies are working to reactivate over 10 thousand private utilities powered down due to snow and strong winds. The Romagna basins are in orange code but there are no flood situations at the moment. On the coast, the technicians of the regional Civil Protection are working for precise interventions on the dunes hit by erosion, in particular on the Ferrara and Ravenna coasts. In the Forlì area, the ridges of the Ronco and Montone rivers are recorded and a landslide in Santa Sofia affects some houses.

"There is the greatest attention from doors of all levels of intervention for what promises to be a critical situation – says Regional Councilor for Civil Protection, Paola Gazzolo -. Since yesterday we are monitoring the situation throughout the regional territory and even this morning we have recently closed a meeting with all the local services connected. In close collaboration with the mayors civil protection plans are being implemented and citizenship structures are being set up in case they should be necessary ". Gazzolo is at the Bologna Operations Center, which coordinates the interventions. They are out of media, volunteers and operators. The President of the Region, Stefano Bonaccini, is informed in real time of the situation.

Recommendations to citizens – It is recommended not to stand on bridges, to be careful of underpasses and to stay away from the banks of the rivers affected by the flood, to carefully follow the indications coming from the authorities and keep constantly updated on the Allertameteo Emilia Romagna platform

The forces in the field – The Regional Operations Center of the Regional Agency for Territorial Security and Civil Protection has been active since 24 hours a day to monitor the situation in agreement with the Coordination Centers rescued on the territory, the Prefectures, the Fire Brigades, the Forces of order, the volunteers, the Municipalities, the managers of the service companies, the reclamation consortia, AIPO, the regional health and all the other components of the civil protection service. The weather forecast provides for rain that is currently running out and a new impetus starting tomorrow afternoon in the western provinces