FROM THE ENROLLED TO CATANIA. Sicily and southern Calabria are preparing for a night of tregenda and, between red zones and orders to close schools and parks and even vaccination hubs, the first damage of the signs of «Medicane», acronym of Mediterranean Hurricane, begins to count. it would be about to hit part of the southern regions of the country. Municipal Civil Protection Centers already activated in almost all of Sicily where strong wind and rain have already hit various locations on the island. Rivers of water and mud in Scordia, in the Catanese area, where the population has closed in to escape the fury of the water; Ramacca-like scenes. Also in the province of Catania, in Randazzo, the enormous quantity of water that found an easy outlet in the streets of the area was channeled onto the carriageway of the San Giuliano bridge that crosses the Alcantara river, breaking through the parapet and pouring into the river like a huge waterfall. In Catania, where the wind has already knocked down several trees and lighting poles especially in the southern area of the city, in the late morning a Coast Guard patrol boat intervened in the stormy sea in front of the waterfront area, north of the city, to recover the corpse of a man of which there is still nothing, neither the identity nor the causes of death; opened an investigation.
Damage to Piazza Armerina, the town of mosaics in the Roman Villa del Casale, in the Ennese area, where several trees have fallen. Discomforts also on the island’s motorways, in particular on the Palermo-Catania at the Motta Sant’Anastasia junction and, on the other side of the island, on the Palermo-Mazara del Vallo near Salemi. A chasm has opened in a central street of San Biagio Platani, in the Agrigento area.
In Pantelleria, in the South West of Sicily, strong winds and intense rain have transformed the streets into rivers and shaken trees and poles, making the inhabitants relive the nightmare of a month and a half ago when on 11 September a tornado caused two dead and a dozen injured. «The storm cell that struck Pantelleria is now preparing to reach the mainland of Sicily – explains the head of the Sicilian Civil Protection, Salvo Cocina – and goes to the Agrigento area, towards Gela, Licata. Another cell has already discharged over 140 mm of rain on the Catania Plain, between Palagonia and Scordia, Militello and Francofonte. There are other storm cells on Etna and in the Giarre area. The situation is evolving, we are on red alert, there are over one hundred “Com” open, fortunately no injuries or victims are reported ».
With the red alert issued by the Civil Protection, several mayors have signed ordinances with which schools, cemeteries, public parks will close for tomorrow and advise the population not to leave home: Catania, Acireale, Aci Catena, Messina and other 27 municipalities in the range Tyrrhenian of the province, Enna, Syracuse, Sciacca. The closure of some vaccination hubs has also been arranged. In Calabria schools closed in Reggino, in Campania in Naples.