Heavy rainfall

Flash flood in Italy sweeps man in car to his death

Large amounts of rain fell within a few hours.

(Bild: AP/Michele Nucci/LaPresse)

Severe storms hit Italy on Sunday night. A 20-year-old man was found dead in Pianoro near Bologna in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna. His car was swept away by the waters of a river that suddenly burst its banks. 

The man was in the car with his brother, who managed to save himself and raised the alarm, according to Italian media reports. "We can't reach a large part of the urban area. The telephone lines are down. We are asking for help," said Luca Vecchiettini, mayor of Pianoro. The situation is critical. In the municipality, evacuations have been ordered in some areas that have been severely affected by flooding.

The province of Bologna and the area around the Adriatic seaside resort of Cesenatico were hit particularly hard by the storms. Several houses had to be evacuated in the small towns of Budrio, Molinella and Bagnacavallo. Due to the heavy rainfall, many roads in the Bologna area were impassable.

Intense amounts of rain in a very short time
More than 80 millimetres of rain fell in around four hours on Sunday evening, flooding a large part of the city of Bologna and the surrounding area. The critical phase began at around 9 p.m. when the River Ravone burst its banks and blocked one of the main access roads to the city center, where the municipal hospital is located, among other things. There were power cuts in several parts of Bologna.

The mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, called on the population via social media not to go out on the streets in the entire city area, not to use their cars and to move to higher floors if they were close to torrents. Many roads in the province were completely or partially closed. Rail traffic also came to a partial standstill.

Dark memories come flooding back
The Emilia Romagna region, to which Bologna belongs, had already been hit by heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding in mid-September. Thousands of people were evacuated. In May 2023, 17 people lost their lives in severe storms in the region. Property damage ran into the billions. Severe storms also ravaged the region at the beginning of October.

Heavy rainfall is expected in 13 of the 20 Italian regions on Sunday. There was also heavy rainfall in Sicily, which has been suffering from a severe drought in recent months. There was heavy flooding in Catania and Agrigento.

In the Sicilian port city of Licata, the River Salso burst its banks and flooded various parts of the city. Some people were trapped on the roofs of their cars. A man clinging to the pillars of a bridge was rescued by a team of ground firefighters. Several houses near the river were evacuated.