Storms Batter Italy: Alerts Issued For Nine Regions

Italy faces severe storms, prompting the Civic Protection Agency to issue risk alerts for nine regions. The warnings include northern Piedmont, Lombardy, central Marche, Umbria, and southern Campania.

Flooding risk remains high, particularly in northwest Piedmont and southern Calabria. Streets in several cities flooded on Tuesday, disrupting local transport. Additionally, lightning damaged Rome’s Constantine Arch during a thunderstorm, though the fragments were quickly secured, and maintenance began on Wednesday.

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue throughout the week. Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna received an orange alert for hydrogeological risk, while Venice was placed under a red alert for severe weather.

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These warnings come as Italy struggles with a third extended heatwave in three years. The European Commission recently approved 447 million euros from the EU Solidarity Fund to help Italy recover from last year’s storms and floods. Fires, droughts, and landslides have continued to plague the country this year, affecting agricultural production, according to the farmer’s union Coldiretti.

Last week, a waterspout sank a luxury yacht, killing seven people, while high temperatures continue to affect southern Italy, with some areas seeing highs above 40 degrees Celsius.

Though severe, this year’s storms have not yet reached the devastation caused by flash floods in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany last year, which killed 17 and caused billions in damage.