Flood, President Von der Leyen shakes hands with Viterbo volunteers in Emilia Romagna

“It all happened so suddenly! I could never have imagined that I would find myself shaking Ursula Von der Leyen’s hand”. There is a volunteer from Viterbo at the center of the photograph who depicts the gratitude of the institutions towards the men and women who have been in the mud for days in the rescue of the flooded populations of Emilia Romagna. It is Cinzia Viglianti, contact person of the municipal group of civil protection volunteers Viterbo (national network Prociv Arci). The handshake with the president of the European commission took place last Thursday in Cesena, during Von der Leyen’s visit to the areas affected by the bad weather, accompanied for the occasion by the governor Stefano Bonaccini and the head of the Civil Protection, Fabrizio Curcio .

On the role of the rescuers on the field, Von der Leyen then commented: “I was struck by the hundreds of volunteers, the ones you call the mud angels. It was very nice to see.”
“We were very pleased with the visit of the president – explains Alessandro Maietto, coordinator of Prociv Arci Lazio – with this handshake it is as if she had shaken the hand of all the Prociv volunteers who have been working for a long time in the flooded areas”.

Maietto, also on the spot, describes a situation that is still very complicated today: “The flooded area is very vast. The waters are receding. Now we are trying to empty those areas that are still submerged, limited areas”. Meanwhile, the cleaning work has begun. “All the materials taken out of the houses damaged by the water are taken away with trucks”.

“We are continuing to operate with continuous contingent replacements – adds Maietto -. Our groups have arrived here from all over Italy. From the province of Viterbo we have these days, among others, the groups of Latera and Vallerano. To these must be added volunteers from the rest of Lazio and Calabria “.

Prociv Arci will remain in Emilia Romagna until 18 June. The volunteers from Viterbo worked above all in the Forlì area, one of the most affected. From Tuscia, the first group to leave had been the core of divers from Montalto di Castro. Also performed 17 surgeries per day. Among the rescues made that of an ALS malt. A load of aid also left from Viterbo (food products and cleaning tools), material collected spontaneously by a group of young people from the capital.

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