A violent windstorm tore the roof off
a swimming pool near Bologna on Tuesday as heavy storms
continued to pound parts of central Italy, including the
Emilia-Romagna region.
The windstorm hit in particular Bologna and its province where,
in Ozzano, the twister damaged the municipal swimming pool,
which was closed off after all the people inside were evacuated.
Nobody was injured, Ozzano Mayor Luca Lelli said.
Meanwhile the governor of the Emilia-Romagna region around
Bologna, Michele de Pascale, expressed concern after the Lamone
river, which also crosses the region, reached the red alert
level in Marradi, near Florence, fearing it might break its
banks.
He said the regional operational centre was monitoring the
situation.
The Lamone reached a record 2.68 metres in Marradi near Florence
but was considered to be receding in the afternoon by the Tuscan
civil protection while it was increasingly swelling in Romagna.
"Great concern, solidarity to local administrators" who are
monitoring the situation along with the regional centre, said de
Pascale.
"If we ever needed an additional incentive, this constant stream
of concerning events affecting the whole territory can only
induce us to do better", he noted.
Back in September, the Emilia-Romagna region experienced severe
floods caused by torrential rain as nearly 3,000 residents were
evacuated.
In particular, the Lamone river broke its banks in Bagnacavallo
near Ravenna, flooding the town and destroying homes.
Many of the areas affected by the bad weather in Emilia-Romagna
in September were the same ones hit by flooding and landslides
in May 2023 linked to unprecedented rainfall that left 17 people
dead and caused billions of euros of damage.
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