Sarah Mechelli
Almost twenty days after the flooding that hit Prati Fiscali, Valmelaina and Conca d’Oro, work is still being done on the dial finished under water in an attempt to restore normality and quantify the damage.
Prati Fiscali twenty days after the flooding
“We are still shoveling slime and mud from our homes and from manufacturing and commercial activities. We have a lot of material – objects, furnishings, appliances, equipment – piled up to throw away and we don’t know if we’ll be able to get back up” – residents and merchants vented today, gathered today, with the neighborhood committee I bravo di Prati Fiscali, in a room of the hotel La Pergola to discuss and define what actions to take to ask for refreshments and restart. To obtain the hydraulic safety of the area. The hotel in via dei Prati Fiscali also suffered extensive damage, especially in the warehouse from which, with the help of Ama and the town hall, fifty completely half-baked and smelly mattresses were taken away and thrown away.
Even the nearby garage on April 15th found itself completely submerged in water and is still struggling to start again today. Mud, damaged cars and a blown floor at the Garden Gym in Conca d’Oro. “We are still doing the damage count and unfortunately something new comes out every day. For now, what is certain is that we are forced to throw away seven cardio fitness machines. The 4 thousand liters of water per day boiler no longer works and will have to be replaced” – the owner, Viviana Romano, tells RomaToday. Meanwhile, due to the “completely burst” laminate, the 130 square meter room remains closed and inaccessible. Larger groups do not know where to train. The gym has reopened after 16 days of hiatus. “Obviously we are having our members make up payments, which means that we will not collect anything for two weeks, not to mention that this is the period, with summer just around the corner and the desire to get back in shape, in which there are many new registrations but those who came even just to ask for information found it closed”.
The losses are huge. “To the economic ones – underlines one of the residents of vicolo dei Prati Fiscali – there are the emotional ones, the shock of seeing one’s houses submerged in water and mud. Still today semi-destroyed”. “And in all of this – the inhabitants of the flooded quadrant agree – we must also consider ourselves lucky that everything happened during the day, it could have been a huge tragedy”.
Prati Fiscali and Valmelaina no longer want to flood
From Prati Fiscali to Valmelaina everyone wants to know what was the cause, or the contributing causes, that led to the flooding. The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, who in Prati Fiscali visited part of the houses that remained submerged spoke of a failure in the Acea lifting system. But the neighborhood wants certainties and asks for structural interventions so that something like this doesn’t happen again. “It is clear that what sent us underwater was not the bad weather, because it is true that it was raining but it was a storm like we have seen many over the years. Yet this is how we flooded only in 2012” – the observation of those who also suffered the flood eleven years ago. “The pipes are undersized compared to the population and the new buildings have increased the load on the sewers in the area, not by chance – they point out – our houses have been invaded by sewage and not just by rainwater. Acea and the Municipality must secure the whole area. The situation was tragic.”
The Capitoline Assembly has already approved a motion which commits the Capitol to providing refreshments and evaluating interventions that definitively resolve the problem of flooding in the neighborhood. The document bears the first signature of the municipal councilor of the League, Fabrizio Santori, also in assembly with the residents. “The central theme is concern for the future of this quadrant of the city. It is necessary to convene a public works commission to investigate issues related to the systems and provide solutions to avoid any further blockage that could lead to new flooding. We will also support the legitimate demands of citizens regarding compensation” – said Santori.
The M5s: “It’s a question of dignity”
The M5s also asked the Mayor for urgent intervention at Acea, in order to restore the functionality of the lifting pumps in via dei Prati Fiscali Vecchia and verify the functionality of the lamination tanks in via di Prati Fiscali. “The situation after the flooding in via dei Prati Fiscali is far from resolved: what happened to the administration?” – ask the leader of the M5S in Campidoglio Linda Meleo, the leader of the M5S in the regional council Roberta Della Casa and the leader of the M5S in III Municipio Dario Quattromani. “After the walkways we hoped the facts would follow but the reality tells us that only at the end of April did the municipality contact Acea, recognized as responsible for the damage ascertained on the same day it had occurred, to ask how it was proceeding. We know this because as M5S we have officially asked to proceed through appraisals in all the realities that have suffered damage, not only in via dei Prati Fiscali Vecchia: from piazzale Jonio to Largo Valtournanche, the problems remain unsolved “. “It is not a political question but one of dignity” – added Quattromani on the sidelines of the meeting with the citizens. “We ask that there be the manifest will of the Municipality and the town hall on the restoration of the damage that residents and traders have evidently suffered, we need to shed full light on what happened and commit ourselves so that it does not happen again”.
The modules for refreshment points in Prati Fiscali and Valmelaina
In the meantime, Piazza Sempione, after the removal of the first part of the waste accumulated in via Patmo, has already set in motion its own Technical Office for the quantification of the damages and will distribute the forms useful for requesting reimbursements. “As always, we are doing our part alongside the citizens who need our presence and our help” – said the president, Paolo Marchionne.