Thousands evacuated in Italy disaster zone

(18 May 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER:4435251

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Faenza, Italy - 18 May 2023
1. Various of evacuees in indoor stadium
HEADLINE: Thousands evacuated in Italy disaster zone
ANNOTATION: Thousands of residents have been evacuated in Italy as rescue crews worked to reach towns cut off following flooding.
2. Various of flooded streets and abandoned cars
ANNOTATION: The hard-hit Emilia-Romagna region is one of the most at-risk regions for flooding.
3. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Claudia, 29-year-old resident:
"We were worried that water could overflow past this wall and could flood also all the area past the walls. That is why actually at about one in the morning residents were evacuated from all the lower floors.”
4. Various of people being ferried on army dinghies in flooded streets
ANNOTATION: Experts warn extreme rainfall causing devastating floods are likely to keep happening.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy - 18 May 2023
5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Antonello Pasini, climate scientist at CNR:
"We have to do two things at the same time: adapt but also drastically decrease our greenhouse gas emissions so that we don't get to a scenario where we are talking about three degrees, four degrees more globally. Otherwise this would really only be the first sign of something much worse."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Faenza, Italy - 18 May 2023
6. Various of residents walking in mud using plastic bags as boots and carrying luggage
7. Various of collapsed brick wall and pool of mud along riverbank
ANNOTATION: Italy isn't alone in coping with heavy rainfall as parts of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia have also reported flooding and landslides.

STORYLINE:
Thousands of residents were evacuated in northern Italy on Thursday as rescue crews worked to reach towns and villages that are cut off from highways, electricity and cell phone service following heavy rains and flooding.

More than 10,000 people fled their homes, some plucked from rooftops or balconies by rescue helicopters and others ferried out on civil protection dinghies.

The hard-hit Emilia-Romagna region was particularly vulnerable, given its location between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea which trapped the weather system that dumped half the average annual amount of rain on arid soil in 36 hours.

Extreme rainfall causing devastating floods, such as the deadly ones currently plaguing northern Italy, are likely to re-occur over the next decades if governments don't act on combating climate change, a leading expert warned on Thursday.

Italy wasn't alone in coping with heavy rainfall, as parts of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia also reported flooding and landslides that required evacuations.

AP video shot by Paolo Santalucia and Luca Bruno

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[patdonnelly]

It's called 'Weather'. It's been around a long, long time. Before cars, even!