Number of evacuees from floods in Italy rises to 15,000

The number of people who have had to leave their homes because of the flooding in Emilia-Romagna has risen to over 15,000 the regional government said on Friday.

It said 8,000 of these people have found accommodation in hotels or in temporary dormitories set up by municipalities in schools, sports halls and gyms.

The others have found alternative accommodation at holiday homes or with friends or relatives.

The death toll from this week’s deadly flooding in Emilia Romagna has climbed to 14 after the police recovered the body of a man in his 70s in Faenza on Friday.

The northeastern region will remain on red alert on Saturday with more rain forecast.

Among other things, the risk of landslides is considered particularly high.

Around 27,000 people still do not have electricity and provisions of drinking water and food are running out in parts of the province of Ravenna, sources said.

The shortages are a big problem in nine municipalities in the south of the region and affect people being put up in temporary reception centres and those who have been forced to stay at home for the last three days because of the extreme weather, the sources said.

Many supermarkets are closed or have run out of stock and the civil protection department is struggling to get to some areas to provide meals, the sources added.

The damage caused by the extreme weather adds up to many billions of euros.

Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government is set to declare a state of calamity and will apply for cash from the European Solidarity Fund to face the emergency.

Experts have linked the torrential rainfall behind the floods to the climate crisis, with up to 500 mm – half the average annual precipitation – falling in 36 hours in some places and all the rivers in the region bursting their banks.

Photo – An aerial view of Italian firefighters’ rescue teams searching for people trapped in their houses in Lugo, Italy. EPA-EFE/EMANUELE VALERI