The record
It had been proclaimed yellow alertbut Friday in Florence looks more like the scenes of the apocalyptic blockbuster The day after tomorrow.
Around 13, after the rains had already been uninterrupted since the morning, a hailstorm whitened the city, with the streets of the center taking on the appearance of a snowfall.
Underpasses under water
You underpass in great suffering. THE fire fighters they intervened in the railway station in via Lanzi, with two vans blocked – or perhaps it is better to say submerged – by the water, following the disturbances. Obvious difficulties also for the one in via dello Statuto, with cars having to make their way with difficulty.
The former Ataf has been evacuated
The former Ataf headquarters of Avenue of the Thousand was evacuated due to unusability. The ceiling leaked water, flooding the floor of the premises. “It is a building owned by the Municipality”, Autolinee Toscane informs them, which complains about the lack of maintenance and the closure of a part of the building that would have been unused for some years.
Palazzo Vecchio
There is also news of flooding at the Congress Palace. For the moment, Palazzo Vecchio has not given instructions on the closure of gardens and public green areas, which are usually banned in the event of an orange alert.
On the Web
On social networks they are piling up videos and photos of completely flooded roads, with drains and blown manhole covers: from via della Scala near the Santa Maria Novella station, to via Vittorio Emanuele II, up to via Masaccio.
Traffic
The weather is also compromising the viability, with reports of very important slowdowns in the areas of viale Morgagni, via Salviati towards San Domenico, via Incontri on the Careggi hills, Porta al Prato area. But in general throughout the city there are long queues, also because today a four-hour strike, from 5 to 9 pm, was called by the Fast Slm Confsal union.
the tram
Always on public transport, the T1 line of the tramway has been blocked twice. A first stop on both lines, T1 and T2, due to the hailstorm which at 1.30 pm triggered the blockage of a track switch in Novoli: the driver attempted to free the device but the intervention of the emergency management personnel. The stop lasted until 13.38. A second hitch at 13.49 due to the flooding of the underpass, under the railway, of via dello Statuto where the trams could not proceed on the T1 line, in the section between Santa Maria Novella and Careggi and vice versa. Currently the two lines are operational.