After the heavy rainfall of the past few days, the highest red alert was also in effect on Thursday in the northeastern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. The neighbouring central Italian regions of Marche and Tuscany were also affected by the storm disaster.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.

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According to the authorities, the death toll from the floods and landslides rose to at least eleven. Several people were missing on Thursday. Although the rainfall had subsided on Thursday night, hundreds of people from the flooded areas still had to be brought to safety by the emergency services.

A total of 41 cities and municipalities affected by the floods

The provinces of Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena and Rimini on the Adriatic Sea are the most affected, especially the cities of Faenza, Cesena and Forlì, which are largely flooded. 23 rivers – almost all in the provinces concerned – had burst their banks on Wednesday.

A total of 41 cities and municipalities were affected by the floods. The authorities also recorded 280 landslides and 400 blocked roads. In the past 48 hours, the fire brigade and civil defence have been deployed to more than 2000 operations. Around 900 emergency personnel were deployed with a good 300 vehicles, it was said on Thursday morning.

Regional President Stefano Bonaccini spoke of "unbelievable numbers and a great many evacuees". The civil defense reported on Wednesday that about 50,000 people were cut off from the power supply, and more than 100,000 had no network connection for mobile phones. About 13,000 people had to leave their homes.

Within 36 hours, as much precipitation had fallen in the affected areas as the average in six months. In some regions, up to 500 litres of rain per square metre fell in a day and a half, and the average rainfall in the affected areas was 200 litres per square metre.

Regional rail services in Emilia-Romagna have been completely suspended. On Thursday morning, the sections of the "Autostrada Adriatica" A14 between Rimini Nord and Cesena Nord in the direction of Bologna and between Forlì and Cesena Nord in the direction of Ancona were reopened. The sections between the Ravenna junction and the Forlì junction in the direction of Ancona and between Cesena Nord and Faenza in the direction of Bologna remained closed until Thursday afternoon.

In some communities, the water rose to the level of the first floor of the houses within minutes. In the regional capital Bologna, some districts were also under water. Most of the fatalities are elderly people who were surprised by the masses of water on the ground floor.

The body of a woman from the town of Ronta di Cesena was found on Wednesday morning on the beach of Zadina in Cesenatico, on the Adriatic Sea, about 20 kilometers downstream. The Savio River, which had burst its banks, had torn the woman away from her home. Her husband's body was recovered in the flooded house.

People in the disaster area were urged to take refuge on the upper floors. The fire brigade and civil defence rescued residents trapped by the masses of water with helicopters from rooftops. A state of emergency was also declared in the Adriatic metropolis of Rimini. The power supply in hospitals in the region was ensured by generators, the authorities assured.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni promised that the affected areas would be helped with all her might. The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, travelled to Bologna to coordinate the civil protection operation and the relief efforts of the emergency services. The Formula 1 race in Imola, scheduled for Sunday, had already been cancelled on Wednesday. 160,000 spectators had bought tickets for the entire race weekend of the "Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix".

Photographs and film footage of the disaster area showed widely flooded land areas and towns and villages under water several metres high. The region had already been severely affected by the floods two weeks ago. The Po, the longest river in the country, whose water level had fallen to historically low levels in recent months due to the drought, has once again become a powerful river within barely two weeks.