Bad weather: landslides and flooding in Emilia, one dead in the Parma area

A rain-laden perturbation interrupts the summer that has just begun and causes damage and a victim in Emilia, with some torrents and canals overflowing and rivers suddenly flooding from the Apennines to the plains between Modena and Piacenza, on red alert, worrying those who live near the water for a night and a day and forcing the opening of expansion tanks.

At around 8 p.m., the fire brigade recovered the body of an 85-year-old man near the Termina torrent, a tributary of the Enza river, which flooded, in Traversetolo, in the Parma area. The man had disappeared this morning in the flooding of the torrent: he was allegedly caught in the water outside his house and was unable to get to safety.

Dozens of roads interrupted by landslides and mudslides in the hills and mountains, flooding on the lower floors of houses, small collapsed bridges, and some families evacuated and rescued by the fire brigade with dinghies, particularly in Langhirano and Mulazzano (Parma), where several houses were invaded by water, and in Campogalliano (Modena), after yesterday it was Pavullo, also in the Modena Apennines, that experienced an afternoon with a good part of the centre under water.

Also affected by the wave of bad weather was northern Tuscany with Pistoia, which experienced an anxious night with about seventy fire brigade interventions for water that ended up in the streets and subways. And Polesine with Rovigo, where the first day of the newly elected mayor Valeria Cittadin was marked by a visit to the places hit by a cloudburst and a whirlwind, in particular the 'Aliper' shopping centre, where there was damage inside and outside and a shop was blown open.

In Emilia, floods exceeded threshold 3 on the Arda (which reached the overflow at the Mignano dam, in the Piacenza area), Samoggia, Tiepido, Secchia and Enza. All the Secchia, Panaro, Enza, Crostolo and Parma dams came into operation. Crostolo and Enza flooded in the afternoon in some stretches. Rain reached peaks of 190 millimetres on the Secchia and in the mountains and hills of the provinces of Parma, Reggio and Modena, an all-time high of 112 millimetres was reached. At Prignano sulla Secchia, in the Modena area, a bridge over the Rossenna torrent collapsed, swept away by the flood.
Isolated a Beagle dog breeding farm, as documented by owner Alberto Calbucci. "I have my dogs, but also goats, chickens. Where should we go!" he said in the face of the municipality's order to leave. Some people were also evacuated in the Bolognese Apennines, between Vergato and Castel d'Aiano. In the valley of the Sporzana torrent, water damaged the main methane pipeline in Sivizzano, a hamlet of Fornovo di Taro (Parma), leaving the entire area without power. In the afternoon, the vice-president of the Region was in Parma for a meeting in the prefecture with the civil protection.