At least 13 people have died in the past two days as severe weather and floods devastated the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna and other areas of the upper Adriatic coast. Rescue forces are searching for an as-yet unspecified number of missing people, while evacuees number at least 10,000.
More than 280 landslides have been caused by bad weather, including 120 major ones in 58 municipalities. Idice, Quaderna, Sillaro, Santerno, Senio, Lamone Marzeno, Montone, Savio, Pisciatello, Lavino, Gaiana, and Ronco were the 14 rivers that burst their banks throughout early Wednesday, resulting in additional flooding and property damage.
The part of Emilia-Romagna most affected by the floods will be on red alert again tomorrow: the civil defense has issued it for the area that includes the provinces of Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena, Bologna and Rimini.
Stefano Bonaccini, president of Emilia-Romagna, told Rai 3: “The extent of the devastation from the bad weather is that of another earthquake, it will be quantitatively less damage, but it will be a few billion euros. As with the earthquake we will rebuild everything”
