Bologna, 11 May 2023 – After another night under the rain to observe the level of rivers and streams, comes the Arpae emergency classification: orange alert for tomorrow, Friday 12 May. The bad weather yesterday It didn’t do any further major damage, but a new one is active for today weather alert, red in many areas. According to the Civil Protection alert, from early morning today the rainfall will range from scattered to widespread, even downpours or downpours storm. And tomorrow the minister Nello Musumeci comes to the region to visit the most affected areas.
“The phenomena will be accompanied by heavy showers, frequent electrical activity, possible hailstorms and strong gusts of wind,” warns the Department. The rivers are still worrying, swollen by the abundant rains. Flooded houses and basements in Ferrara, where an extraordinary emergency service has been set up. On the positive side, the level of large rivers like the Po is finally rising, giving relief to thewater emergency.
Flood: 2.5 million damage on the Ravenna line
| 10:51 | Bad weather, the situation in Bologna | “At the moment the situation seems under control. We are following the rise of our rivers. There are still people evacuated. We are on red alert and monitoring”. These are the words of Matteo Lepore, mayor of
Bologna, at Agorà Rai Tre. |
| 10:58 | The arrival of Minister Musumeci | “Tomorrow morning I will accompany Minister Musumeci to the places affected by bad weather in our region”, announces the president of Emilia-Romagna Bonaccini on Facebook. The Minister of Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci will visit the territories that have been affected by the wave of bad weather. |
| 11:22 | The stages of Musumeci’s visit | The first stop will be the Operations Center of the Santerno Valley, in Borgo Tossignano, in the province of Bologna, at 8.45 am, headquarters of the COC Municipal Operations Centers of Civil Protection also of the Municipalities of Casalfiumanese, Fontanelice and Castel del Rio. At 11 they will be at the COC in Predappio (FC) and at 12.20 in the Municipality of Faenza (RA) where they will meet the volunteers in the Sala del Consiglio ‘E. De Giovanni’. Also in the municipal administration headquarters, in Piazza del Popolo 31, in the Sala Bigari, the press point is scheduled at 13.00. |
| 11:31 | Who participates in the visit | Also present will be the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Galeazzo Bignami, the Head of the National Civil Protection Department, Fabrizio Curcio, the Vice President of the Region with responsibility for the Regional Civil Protection, Irene Priolo. In addition there will be the undersecretary to the presidency of the council, Davide Baruffi, and the director of the regional civil protection agency, Rita Nicolini. Also participating in the visit are the mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore, the presidents of the Province, Michele De Pascale (Ravenna) and Enzo Lattuca (Forlì-Cesena), mayors and local administrators and the representatives of the territorial offices of the regional civil protection agency. |
| 11:39 | Emergency intervention in Ferrara | In light of “the exceptional wave of rain in the last few hours”, in Ferrara “an extraordinary emergency service has been set up”. The Municipality makes it known that “the coordination of the Civil Protection has been activated and all the reports are conveyed to the Command of the Fire Brigade which, assisted by the same Civil Protection, will collect the requests of the citizens”. The number to call to make reports is 115. “Some civil protection teams throughout the Ferrara area” are already active, the administration then details. Furthermore, this morning in the Prefecture “a table was convened on the interventions in progress and on those to be implemented”. |
| 11:50 | The red zone of Faenza | The Municipality warns that in the red zone, in the time slots from 12 to 15 and from 19 to 22.00, access to private vehicles of residents (or persons indicated by them) will be allowed. Under no circumstances will it be possible to approach vehicles in areas where construction sites are present. |
| 12:03 | Over 200 evacuated in the Imolese area | A hundred people had to leave their homes in the Santerno valley as a precaution (30 in Casalfiumanese, 21 in Borgo Tossignano, 42 in Fontanelice and 11 in Castel del Rio) and another 130 in the Municipality of Imola. |
| 12:15 | Solidarity in Lower Romagna | Laborer Agricultural Cooperatives are on the front line to help in flood-affected areas. The Cooperative Consortium of technical gas users from Faenza has decided to commit 15,000 euros to be divided between the two different fundraisers activated at an institutional level by the Union of Municipalities of Bassa Romagna and the Municipality of Faenza. There were also many volunteers who filled thousands of sandbags to strengthen the levees. To facilitate the work of the Civil Protection, the CABs provided pumps, vehicles and materials free of charge. while Coop Alleanza 3.0 has decided to sell the goods necessary for the first intervention free of charge. |
| 12:35 | Flooded houses and blackouts in Ferrara | Mayor Alan Fabbri posts images of the flooding in the city and writes: “Some houses under the road surface, especially in the via Copparo area, remain flooded but the fire brigade vehicles are working to restore the situation. Personally, I have been in contact since this morning with some residents who have raised the alarm and we are also working to restore the electricity supply.While in the historic center the situation is normal (apart from some flooded cellars) in the grounds of the forese we have found significant accumulations of water (up to 120mm), a really high value”. |
| 12:40 | Orange alert for May 12th |
Orange alert on Friday 12 May for hydraulic criticality in the low hills and plains of Romagna, in the plains of Bologna and Ferrara, and for hydrogeological criticality in the high hills of Romagna and the hills of Bologna. Yellow alert in the rest of the region. Scattered thunderstorms are forecast, which starting from the Apennine areas will extend to the plain with rainfall that may be locally intense. Rapid rises in water levels are expected in waterways. Landslides are also possible on slopes in fragile hydrogeological conditions. |
Weather forecasts by Arpae
According to meteorologists in the region, Today we are witnessing a ‘pause’ in the wave of bad weather that has decimated our region: many clouds and scattered rainsome shower in the late morning but tendency to exhaustion of the phenomena in the late evening. There is little to rejoice, however, because tomorrow, May 12ththe weather will get even worse: sky “initially very cloudy or overcast with light scattered rains which during the morning will tend to become cloudy downpour, locally also thunderstormsaffecting the entire region”. Saturday 13th May it will be better, with the sky “from cloudy to very cloudy with scattered precipitations, locally with showers. In the late evening-night, there is a tendency for the phenomena to run out”. Looking at the map, rain is forecast above all in the Apennines.
The trend from Sunday 14 to Wednesday 17 May
The instability remains until Wednesday, when more persistent rains will return. Temperatures rising Monday and Wednesday. Arpae writes: “A large depression area persists in the Mediterranean basin which will maintain unstable weather conditions for the entire period considered, except for a temporary improvement expected on Monday alone. In our region on Sunday and Monday we will have predominantly cloudy with weak scattered rainfall. Starting from Tuesday the rainfall will be more widespread and consistent. Temperatures slowly and gradually increasing in the maximum and minimum values”.