Bologna, 24 April 2024 – More space for rivers, with rearmost banks And controlled overflows. Then, also the adaptation of bridges and infrastructure to make them as much as possible a flood proof, to prevent what happened almost a year ago in Emilia-Romagna from happening again. But above all one slowdown in construction and the relocation of buildings considered at risk.
Flooding in Faenza in May 2023
It’s what appears in the Preliminary special plan presented today in the region, which indicates the guidelines for interventions post-flood, which will see the final version on June 30th. A document of over a thousand pages, drawn up by the Po District Basin Authority, in collaboration with the Region, within the working group chaired by the support structure of the Extraordinary Commissioner. The plan seeks to rebuild the territories and communities affected by the hydrogeological instability of last May, including the issue of relocations.
Because of 81 thousand landslides recorded following the flood, action will have to be taken in the mountains 3,400 buildings, whether inhabited or abandoned. On the plain front, however, “it is more complex – explains the regional vice president with environmental responsibility Irene Piolo -. Several aspects intersect, but let’s not talk about the most urbanized areas: let’s not relocate the center of Faenza”. The fact is that citizens or businesses will have to abandon their land and your property, receiving compensation, which will be provided by the commissioner structure. And for those who don’t want to leave? “The citizen or the company can make the choice to accept the compensation or not relocate. But if he doesn’t do it, the next flood will happen they will not get compensation“, says Priolo.
What the document says
The plan contains very innovative aspects, containing “strategies for structural and non-structural interventions – continues Priolo -, therefore also the rules that we will have to adopt for planning and programming on waterwayson bridges and on urban planning. We have made a leap on the rules that until now, in some cases, were not even homogeneous at a national level, such as that on bridges”. We are talking about a plan that “provides for a timely analysis of the state of the failure, the driver of the five special plans – adds the vice president -. It takes note of the 81 thousand landslides, then starting, basin by basin, to identify what they are intervention strategies to be put in place”. Among the needs, there is also that of “building a digital twin”.
What needs to be done
For Andrea Colombodirector of the Po basin authority which coordinated the drafting of the plan, “it is particularly necessary to intervene on the banks in an innovative way. The system we have today and which dates back to the early twentieth century is no longer sufficient – he says -. It is about minimizing the overall damage that an event can cause in the area. There will certainly be damage in the future too, but innovative strategies they will try to mimic them“. The general also attended the presentation Giancarlo Giambardella, president of the coordination table for special plans. “The plan is unique at a national level – he highlights -, because it is the first time that we have developed a plan of this type following a flood, thinking about what works to carry out to ensure that it never happens again”. The figures and resources to be deployed are important, but will be formalized at a later date. “The first objective is to avoid risky situations – concludes the general – the amounts will be defined in the June plan and it will be the commissioner’s responsibility to prepare the financing lines in a certain and rapid manner”.
