Orange and yellow alert on sectors of Emilia-Romagna, Liguria and Tuscany and yellow in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Umbria, Abruzzo, Marche, Molise and Campania. In Massa around 100 people were displaced from the hamlets of Casette and Forno, left isolated due to a landslide. Flooding also in La Spezia
Bad weather has arrived in Italy and there has already been a lot of damage. High attention in Tuscany, where the red alert for bad weather today involves four provinces, in particular those of Massa Carrara and Lucca, plus some municipalities of Pistoia and Prato. Yesterday, around a hundred people were displaced from the hamlets of Casette and Forno (Massa), while four families were displaced in the La Spezia area.
"Landslides, widespread flooding and flooding have been reported in all the municipalities of Garfagnana, where the municipal administrations immediately intervened to try to contain and, where possible, resolve all the critical issues. Important situations have been reported in the municipalities of Fabbriche di Vergemoli, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Sillano-Giuncugnano, Minucciano and Vagli Sotto, among which some people are temporarily isolated. The road that leads from Sillano in Soraggio is temporarily closed to traffic with volunteers on site to direct traffic", announced the Union of Garfagnana Municipalities, in the province of Lucca, regarding the bad weather emergency.
State Road 1 'Aurelia' has been reopened to traffic, in both directions, at km 394.100, in the municipal area of Sarzana, after temporary closure following falling plants and the presence of mud and debris on the roadway. This was communicated by Anas who intervened on site together with the firefighters.
Inside the Public Gardens of La Spezia, a large tree, a cedar of Lebanon, collapsed and hit a cycle path: fortunately it was empty at the time.
The regional councilor for Civil Protection of Liguria Giacomo Giampedrone announced: "We have made the decision to deploy part of the mobile Civil Protection column coming from the regional center of the Ponente of Villanova d'Albenga, bringing volunteers, vehicles and materials suitable for assisting the population at the Santo Stefano Magra headquarters. This is an exclusively precautionary measure, shared with the mayors of the area, to be ready to intervene quickly if the evolution of the situation makes it necessary".
The prefect of Prato Michela La Iacona brought together the Rescue Coordination Center in view of the weather alert that is affecting the territory and in a note an overview was made of the evolution of the meteorological situation and the possible critical issues for the provincial territory where the orange code alert was placed for the Bisenzio and Ombrone Pistoiese areas and the red code alert, from 10 am to midnight for the R1 (Reno) area, including some portions of the municipalities of Vernio and Cantagallo. The monitoring activities of the territory, in synergy with the municipal operations centers and the inter-municipal operations center of the Union of Municipalities of Val Bisenzio, "are constant, with particular attention to the evolution of the levels of the waterways, the areas most exposed to hydrogeological and hydraulic risk and the possible repercussions on traffic". The prefecture "recommends the population to limit travel to cases of strict necessity".
It continues to rain in La Spezia and its province, affected by an orange alert triggered this morning at dawn which Arpal has extended until Friday 13 November. After Thursday afternoon's flooding, the city's streams and canals remain under surveillance: the Lagora which flows through the historic centre, the Cappelletto stream which flows into the commercial port, the Vecchia Dorgia which passes through the populous Migliarina district and the Fossamastra which flows through the industrial area.
Schools closed for the second consecutive day tomorrow in the province of La Spezia due to the orange weather alert for thunderstorms extended by the Ligurian Regional Agency for the Protection of the Environment. This is provided for in a new ordinance signed by the mayor and president of the Province Pierluigi Peracchini which provides for the suspension of in-person teaching activities in schools of all levels located in the municipal area, including university institutes, higher technical institutes, post-diploma technical schools and institutes, in the G. Puccini conservatory, in professional training centers and in all higher institutes in the province. Furthermore, the suspension of children's services, including educational and recreational ones, the closure of minor aggregation centres, minor socio-educational centres, elderly social centres, disabled socio-educational centers and other public structures are ordered.
The flood wave of the Serchio river is keeping the entire valley in the province of Lucca worried. At the passage from Ponte del Diavolo, in Borgo a Mozzano, the level of the watercourse during the night recorded a maximum flow rate of 1,180 cubic meters per second, however remaining contained within the riverbed. Despite the regular flow towards the mouth, the strength of the current and the heavy rains of the last few hours leave serious critical issues in terms of traffic and hydrogeological instability. In fact, the connecting bridge between Mologno and Gallicano remains closed to traffic as a precaution, due to an important phenomenon of bank erosion recorded on the Mologno side. Problems also on the secondary road network. The Loppia provincial road was closed to traffic due to a landslide. Meanwhile, the state of maximum attention remains throughout the entire territory of the Serchio Valley and Garfagnana.
Yellow weather alert for all of Campania from 3pm today and for the following 24 hours. The regional Civil Protection has issued a warning highlighting strong south-westerly winds with gusts and consequent rough or very rough seas with storm surges along the exposed coasts and thunderstorms, even intense. The notice draws attention to a localized hydrogeological risk with phenomena of impact on the ground such as flooding, flooding, exceeding the hydrometric levels of watercourses, flow of water in road surfaces, runoff, rising hydrometric levels of watercourses, falling rocks and landslides due to the fragility of the soil.
"We know that in the afternoon there will be a rise in sea levels and probably also in the winds", "all these factors put together" with the expected intense rainfall, "worry us", because "they could lead to flooding in Marina di Massa". The mayor of Massa, Francesco Persiani, said this in anticipation of bad weather in the province which is one of the four Tuscan provinces on red alert. Persiani recalled the emergency work done to strengthen the banks of the Frigido river, which, due to the conditions described, may not flow easily into the sea. Maps indicating the possible areas of Marina di Massa at risk of flooding have been prepared at the municipal civil protection headquarters.
The weather alert for the plains of Bologna and Modena remains orange. For tomorrow, Friday 13 November, widespread, moderate rains are expected along the central-eastern mountainous areas, where they may become downpours. Precipitation will gradually end from the afternoon starting from the west. The forecast and previous rainfall may generate localized landslides, runoff along the slopes and rises in the levels of watercourses, particularly in the central-eastern mountain sector. Increases in levels above threshold 2 are expected due to the propagation of floods in the valley sections of Secchia, Panaro and Reno.
Checks by RFI (FS group) technicians keep the Faentina railway suspended, between the Borgo San Lorenzo and Faenza stations, due to adverse weather conditions. The measure has been in place since yesterday. Also due to the bad weather, the prefecture of Massa Carrara announced that RFI, for checks on the railway infrastructure linked to the red alert, this morning ordered precautionary interruptions on the Aulla-Castelnuovo Garfagnana lines from 9.30 to 12.30 and on the Pontremolese railway, from Aulla to Grandola, a hamlet of Pontremoli, from 11 to 12.30.
In Carrara "the brief respite during the night allowed us to lower the levels of the Parmignola and Carrione", "we are monitoring the situation with all the civil protection teams and volunteers. There are flooding in progress" and "we are waiting for the next alert that the Tuscany Region will communicate to us". The mayor of the city, Serena Arrighi, said it in a video message, adding that "this morning there was another 40 mm of rain".
In Fosdinovo the firefighters removed tree trunks from the Isolone stream. In Massa, the Province and the Municipality have opened a road for emergency vehicles to reach the hamlet of Forno, which was isolated by the landslide which blocked municipal and provincial roads. The road is still blocked because there are currently no safety conditions necessary to carry out the work due to the significant flow of water coming from the mountain slopes. The Municipality of Massa has prepared assistance and reception measures for displaced people. Five people belonging to two families were welcomed into a municipal social residential facility.
Numerous floods, tree falls, landslides and mudslides on the roads are the consequences of the intense rainfall in the last few hours in the province of Massa Carrara according to what the prefecture reports, which takes stock of the situation in a note. As a precaution, all schools are closed by order of the mayors. Among the landslides, the Municipalities of Fosdinovo and Tresana are activating urgent interventions to restore traffic and to prevent the isolation of villages and hamlets due to any other landslide movements.
Drainage operations continue in numerous locations in the Spezzino area, which has been on orange alert for thunderstorms since 6 this morning. To deal with the extraordinary nature of the emergency and guarantee a timely response throughout the territory, the local fire brigade system was strengthened with the dispatch of mobile columns from the commands of Savona and Genoa, which operated continuously throughout the night until the first light of dawn. The fire brigade teams are still at work, and will continue throughout the day, to dispose of the less critical residual requests, mainly linked to the draining of flooded rooms, basements and homes.
There were over 250 requests for help handled by the firefighters during the night in La Spezia due to the damage and flooding caused by the wave of bad weather underway in eastern Liguria. Among the most complex operations was an intervention in the Stagnoni area, where the river fire brigade teams, operating with the aid of inflatable boats, brought to safety and evacuated around 60 workers who were stuck inside the buildings invaded by water.
The bad weather persists in Italy until Saturday, with heavy rainfall between Liguria and upper Tuscany and gale-force winds with gusts of between 70 and 90 km/h along the Tyrrhenian coasts and on the Apennine ridges. This is what Mattia Gussoni, meteorologist at iLMeteo.it, says. "The wave motion will undergo a rapid surge on all the western basins - he underlines - with rough or locally very rough sea conditions offshore. Possible storm surges will affect the western coasts of Sardinia, Liguria and the middle-lower Tyrrhenian Sea". The disturbance will come into full force from today with rainfall contributions equal to or greater than 100 mm/24h in eastern Liguria, upper Tuscany, central-eastern Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The sirocco winds will keep the freezing point high, limiting snowfall in the Alps to altitudes above 2200-2400 metres.
From late morning a "new worsening is expected in Tuscany starting from the north-west areas moving towards the internal areas: provinces of Massa Carrara, Lucca, part of Pistoia, Prato up to Casentino" in the province of Arezzo. The president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani made this known on social media in the latest update on bad weather. "In the last 36 hours - he adds - over 350 mm of rain has fallen in Minucciano in Garfagnana", a town in the province of Lucca.
From 6am this morning, the orange alert went off on the Ligurian Levante - maximum level of alert for thunderstorms - and the yellow alert on the center of the region and on the Po Valley slopes of the Levante. The area most affected by the rains, which have been continuing since yesterday, is La Spezia. According to Arpal data, they were detected at 5.30am.
