PISTOIA. Never so much rain in a single day in the month of June since the rain gauge stations were installed in the province.
The record
The control unit Pontelungothe one closest to the city, recorded a daily cumulative rainfall of 125 millimeters: «But what created difficulties – he states Alessio Bartolomeicouncilor for civil protection – is the quantity of water that fell in just under two hours, from ten in the evening to midnight between Monday 24th And Tuesday 25 June». In that period alone 80 millimeters of rain. And anxieties and fears returned. Like maybe we weren’t expecting to have to live in June. In the end it wasn’t a dramatic night like that of last November 2nd, but there were occasional problems and 115 received around seventy phone calls requesting intervention and safety measures by the firefighters.
The inconveniences
Flooding problems have been reported both in the plain and in some city streets. In the city center, flooded basements in via Puccini and viale Petrocchi. Via Erbosa was flooded in the immediate vicinity of the centre. «The bulk of the disturbance – the Municipality explains – was concentrated in the city centre, in the Sant’Agostino area, on Viale Adua, and then towards Chiazzano and Agliana, in the direction of Prato» . And so here is the Provincial Pratese, in Chiazzano, once again flooded in several places. Photos were published on social media to warn of the danger and to share the anxiety of a sleepless night.
The accusations
If some point the finger at the lack of canals and wastewater holding basins in depressed and densely populated areas, affected to a greater extent by the effects of climate change, yesterday, the Municipality was taken aback by the alert issued by the Region Tuscany: «We had three men from the Civil Protection on call, as it was – explains Bartolomei – only a yellow alert. In reality it was more of an orange alert than a yellow one, as in November it was more red than orange, but the indications did not cause concern.” Instead, from the evening onwards the Civil Protection asked for the help of the VAB and voluntary associations for a reconnaissance tour of the areas at risk and to respond to requests for help: «The coordination with the Region – asserts Bartolomei – will have to be reviewed». As usual, the first to be hit by the bad weather were the underpasses. Shortly after midnight, the Civil Protection closed the underpass of the Europa bridge (reopened in the morning), while the movement of trains was severely inconvenienced due to the flooding of the station underpass. Some trains were cancelled, and until three in the afternoon – when the underpass was reopened – travelers only had platform 1 available.
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