A series of floods are ongoing in and around the cities of Bologna,Cesena,Forlì,Faenza,Ravenna,and Rimini,in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.[1] The first floods occurred between 2 and 3 May 2023,killing two people.[2] More severe floods are currently ongoing since 16 May 2023,killing at least 15 people and displacing 50,000 others.[3][4][5]
The same amount of rain which usually falls in seven months fell in two weeks,causing the overflow of twenty-three rivers across the region.[6][7] In some areas,almost half the annual average of rain fell in only 36 hours.[8] Moreover,400 landslides occurred in the area and 43 cities and towns were flooded.[9] The provisional cost of the damage caused by the floods amounts to more than €7 billion (US$7.5 billion).[10][11]
The long-time effects of the drought and the persistent bad weather prevented the soil from draining;by 16 May,another storm—known as Storm Minerva—hit the region with uninterrupted heavy rain for almost two days. Twenty-three rivers across the region burst their banks. Fifteen people were killed during the floods;[16][17] seven people died between Cesena and Forlì,seven died in Ravenna,and another one in San Lazzaro di Savena,near Bologna.[18][19][20] Damages also occurred in the Appennine areas,with more than 400 landslides counted across the four Italian provinces.[21] More than 50,000 people were displaced,[22][23] with more than 4,800 of them finding temporary shelter in hotels and gyms indicated by local administrations.[24]
While the storm ended in the afternoon of 17 May,[25] other floods occurred on the following days. Notably,the town of Lugo,near Ravenna,was completely flooded on the morning of 18 May,[24][26] while Russi,in the same area,was evacuated on 19 May due to the overflow of the Emilia-Romagna Channel.[27][28] On 19 May,rain started to fall again.[29] On 20 May,alert remained high in the territory of Ravenna,where 36,000 people were evacuated.[30][31]
On 26 May,the town of Conselice,in the province of Ravenna,was evacuated due to health reasons,since the stagnant water that was still flooding large areas of the town was full of waste and garbage,and so could have become a vector for either viral or bacterial infections.[32][33][34] On 27 May,Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane officially announced that access to the rail line between Bologna and Rimini,as well as the one between Faenza and Ravenna,would be fully restored from 29 May onwards,whilst the Ferrara–Ravenna–Rimini route would be completely re-activated on 30 May;[35][36] all of the aforementioned lines stayed subject to variations and delays,since the standard number and top speed of vehicles available were set to be restored gradually.[35][36]
Effects
The extent of the floods on 18–20 May 2023
On 17 May,Stefano Bonaccini,the president of Emilia-Romagna,stated that "in the last 24 hours,more than 300 millimeters of rain have fallen",and described the floods as a "catastrophic event,never seen before".[37] Later on,Bonaccini also compared the impact of the floods to the 2012 Emilia earthquakes,stating that the damage was likely to be less significant but would still cost the region several billions of euros.[24][38] Bonaccini's request to be named commissary to manage the relief funds,[39] as is custom among regional presidents,[40][41] was opposed by the Meloni government,[42] and Brothers of Italy and Lega in particular,while Forza Italia sided with him.[43]
Luca Mercalli,president of the Italian Meteorological Society,stated that "two records were broken in 15 days in the same region. An event like the one that occurred on 2 May might happen once in a century,but then another one hit the same areas only 15 days later."[9] Many events in the region were canceled or delayed due to the flooding. Throughout the Bologna metropolitan area,alongside many road closures,[44] all schools and cultural activities were cancelled with people being strongly encouraged to work from home.[45] The city's annual fun-run "StraBologna" was also postponed.[46]
A Formula One race in Emilia-Romagna was scheduled to be part of the 2023 Formula One World Championship and be held from 19 to 21 May 2023.[47] On 16 May, all Formula One personnel were instructed to leave the paddock, citing precautionary steps after a rise in water level at the nearby Santerno river was reported.[48][49] Due to the heavy rain observed throughout the week before the race, and after several rumors the day before, the Italian ministry called for the race to be postponed.[50][51] Ultimately, the race was canceled; an official statement from Formula One stated that the decision was made as it was not possible to safely hold the event for fans, teams, and personnel, and to lighten the load on local emergency services as they had already been pressured due to the storm damage.[52][53] The cancelled Grand Prix's trophies, Ferrari Trento celebration bottle, and related items would be auctioned to raise relief funds for Emilia-Romagna.[54][55][56]
On 18 May 2023, American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band were set to perform at the Giorgio Bassani Urban Park[it] in Ferrara as part of their 2023 world tour.[57][58] Although the province of Ferrara was not between the areas directly affected by the floods, in the immediate aftermath of the disaster Springsteen fans and ticket-holders attempted to urge the organizers to reschedule the concert on social media in order to pay respect to the victims and avoid misplacement of emergency resources.[59][60][61] After further examinations, both the Prefettura and the local council of Ferrara authorized Springsteen to go ahead with the concert.[58][59]
The decision sparked heavy criticism towards Springsteen and his team,[60][61][62] while both lead promoter Claudio Trotta and Alan Fabbri, the mayor of Ferrara,[63] defended the choice to permit the show.[58][59][60] Irene Priolo, the deputy vice-president of Protezione Civile for the Emilia-Romagna region, questioned the decision whilst clarifying that Ferrara's local authorities were the only institutions that had the right to either confirm or postpone the gig.[59][64] During the concert, which reportedly involved 900 security members between police officers, volunteers, and first aid services,[59] Springsteen did not make any direct comments about the floods and their impact.[65][66] On 26 May, Springsteen's guitarist Steven Van Zandt took to Twitter to answer a message from an Italian fan, stating that the band was not informed of the emergency by anyone.[67][68][69]
Michele De Pascale, the mayor of Ravenna, called the floods the "worst disaster in a century", labeling the night between 16 and 17 May 2023 as the "worst one in the history of Romagna".[70][71] On 20 May, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni officially annonuced that she would depart the 49th G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, early in order to return to Italy and help coordinate the emergency, stating that she "could not remain so far from Italy in such a complex moment".[72][73][74] While departing, Meloni thanked fellow G7 leaders for their offers of aid to the victims of the floods.[72] She landed in Rimini the following day,[74] and visited the provinces of Forlì and Ravenna, as well as the city of Faenza, before meeting regional president Stefano Bonaccini and Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Protezione Civile, at the Prefettura of Ravenna.[75][76]
On the evening of 16 May, Matteo Salvini, the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, posted a tweet linking the tragic aftermath of the floods with the defeat of A.C. Milan (the team he was a supporter of) against Inter Milan in the 2023 UEFA Champions League semi-finals. He wrote: "Heart and commitment dedicated to the citizens of Emilia-Romagna who are fighting against water and mud. An AC Milan without heart, grit and ideas does not even deserve a thought."[77][78][79] Salvini, who was set to be directly involved in the management of the emergency due to his political duties,[78] later deleted the tweet but was nonetheless heavily criticized for his apparent lack of taste and empathy.[77][78][79] The Democratic Party-led regional government was accused by several local members of right-wing parties, such as Brothers of Italy and Lega, of being directly responsible for the floods, allegedly due to poor maintenance of the rivers' banks.[80][81]
On 23 May, Italy's Council of Ministers officially announced the approval of the first law decree[it] in response to the emergency, an estimated €2 billion recovery package that was aimed to public and private businesses, schools, universities, museums, and farm workers, among other categories.[83][84][85] The law's final text was not published on the Gazzetta Ufficiale until the end of the same week.[81] On 25 May, Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, visited the flooded areas along with Bonaccini. Meloni underlined the strong spirit of the Romagnol people, stating: "Usually, when you lose everything, the prevailing feeling is anger, blame-seeking, or resignation. In Emilia-Romagna I found people shoveling mud with pride in their eyes, saying: all right, we have a problem, but we will solve it, we will rebuild."[86] Von der Leyen assured that the European Union (EU) would help the region, adding in Romagnol dialect, Tin bota (English: Keep strong), which was widely used as the slogan for the ongoing reconstruction.[87]
24 May was declared as National Day of Mourning for the victims of the flooding, as both the Italian and European flags hung outside of the Chamber of Deputies in Rome were displayed at half-mast.[88] On 27 May, Italian President Sergio Mattarella publicly announced that he would visit the affected areas in Forlì, Faenza, and other undisclosed cities on 30 May.[89][90][91]
Humanitarian efforts
Clearing operations after a landslide near Bologna
Emilia-Romagna is an administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of 22,446 km2 (8,666 sq mi), and a population of 4.4 million.
The province of Bologna was a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital was the city of Bologna. The province of Bologna covered an area of 3,702.32 square kilometres (1,429.47 sq mi) and had a total population of 1,004,323 inhabitants as of 31 December 2014, giving it a population density of 271.27 inhabitants per square kilometre. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Bologna starting from January 2015.
The province of Ravenna is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ravenna. As of 2015, it has a population of 391,997 inhabitants over an area of 1,859.44 square kilometres (717.93 sq mi), giving it a population density of 210.81 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its provincial president is Claudio Casadio.
Emilia is a historical region of northern Italy, which approximately corresponds to the western and the north-eastern portions of the modern region of Emilia-Romagna, with the area of Romagna forming the remainder of the modern region.
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Ferrara railway station is the main station serving the city and comune of Ferrara, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. Opened in 1862, it forms part of the Padua–Bologna railway, and is also a terminus of three secondary railways, linking Ferrara with Ravenna and Rimini, Suzzara, and Codigoro, respectively.
Vasco Errani is an Italian politician. He was a founding member of the Democratic Party (PD), which he has left on 22 February 2017, to join Article 1 – Democratic and Progressive Movement, a party founded by the former PD left-wing minority. He has been President of Emilia-Romagna from 1999 to 2014, being the longest-serving one of all time. Errani is one of the longest-serving governors in the history of the Italian Republic.
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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Forlì in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Rimini in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
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Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna is a public company overseeing public transportation in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, in the province of Ferrara and in parts of the provinces of Modena and Ravenna, Italy.
Trenitalia Tper (TTX) is a company operating train services in the Emilia-Romagna region, in Italy, on railway lines overseen by both Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and Ferrovie Emilia Romagna (FER).
The Springsteen and E Street Band2023 Tour is an ongoing concert tour by American singer Bruce Springsteen and his backing band the E Street Band. The tour began on February 1, 2023, in Tampa, and marks the first time since 2017 that Springsteen and the E Street Band have toured together. The tour is scheduled to conclude on December 10, 2023, in San Francisco.
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Portomaggiore is a railway station in Portomaggiore, in the province of Ferrara, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. The station is on the Ferrara–Ravenna–Rimini railway and is the eastern terminus of the Bologna–Portomaggiore railway. The train services are operated by Trenitalia Tper.
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