Tremezzina (Como) – Boats stranded on the cliffs and among the trees, others that could not maneuver and risked ending up on the rocky coast, still others at the mercy of the waves due to engine failure. There Feast of San Giovanni with i fireworks seen from the lakeone of the most beautiful shows of the Como summer season, this year risked turning into a tragedy for the many who wanted to enjoy the evening from the boat, near the Comacina Island, despite the weather alert (yellow) issued by the Region. The Coast Guard coordinated the rescue of 45 people and 12 boats, which ended up at the mercy of the bad weather on Saturday evening, with waves and strong gusts of wind, which had made it impossible to return to shore, and sent the steering of the boats out of control.
The interventions rescuers were kept busy from Saturday evening until dawn on Sunday: twelve search and rescue events coordinated on Lake Como by the Salò Coast Guard Operations Room, which involved 45 boaters in difficulty, including minors, put rescued and assisted due to the strong swell, comparable to a sea state 3, caused by the strong gusts of wind coming from the North-West, which also reached gusts of 30 knots on the Lario. There were 36 boaters rescued by the soldiers embarked on the two naval units assigned to the 3rd Naval Vessels Unit of the Lake Como Coast Guard based in Menaggio, and 9 those rescued by the units of the Fire Brigade, the Auxiliary Coast Guard and the boat of the Como Air Rescue Service.
Most of the search and rescue activities were carried out at night in particularly difficult conditions. Numerous calls reached 112 in just a few hours: sometimes, with even repeated alarms, it involved family members worried about relatives they couldn’t contact or what they knew they were in trouble. They were all sent to the Coast Guard operations room, which has been coordinating search and rescue activities on Lake Como since June 15th.
The same Coast Guard relaunches, more than ever on this occasion, one of the fundamental pieces of advice for yachtsmen: “Always check the efficiency of your unit in port, but above all always check the weather forecast”. Another piece of advice is to have a mobile phone with an internet connection with you: “In these cases – underlines the Coast Guard – it made it easier for the rescuers to promptly reach the damaged and adrift unit, since the boater was able to provide his position in time real to the operations room”.
It’s just one of the episodes of severe wave of bad weatheror which has been plaguing Lombardy for a few days, with heavy repercussions, come on roofs uncovered in Val Seriana – “never seen anything like it”, according to witnesses – al yesterday’s storm on Garda: the flooding of some streams forced the evacuation of the camping areas in San Felice sul Benaco.
