We see more and more videos, selfies, photos published on social media that portray people on the edge of a river, even when there is a potentially dangerous situation. We still observe too many imprudent behaviors, too many images recorded with cell phones near rivers, traveling on roads invaded by water and mud at the foot of earthen slopes, not giving up mobility when it is not strictly necessary. This does not happen only in Emilia – Romagna. The appeal is to behave differently. You must not stop, stop, near rivers, when there are potentially dangerous conditions.
In Emilia-Romagna a large part of the territory is not affected by the emergency of these last hours.
Today there is a beautiful sun. In the last few days, however, nature has once again shown itself to be more powerful and unpredictable than the works of man and forecasting models. To deny that there is a different pattern in precipitation is crazy, every storm is a “water bomb” this is the term most used in the stories of ordinary people and no longer just journalists, every mm of water per square meter is a liter of water and in these days a lot of it falls and has fallen in a short time. With warming the atmosphere can store more water and therefore more abundant precipitation is possible. In the last few hours difficult situations in Forlì where intense precipitation has put the urban drainage network in crisis. Similar storms have occurred in the Apennines in the last few days, with images of flooded streets even in mountain villages where the secondary drainage network has gone into crisis. In Emilia, in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena, the critical issues also extend to rivers with, in some cases, the red thresholds exceeded and peaks of 200 mm of rain in 48 hours.
In this situation we still observe too many reckless behaviors, too many images recorded with cell phones near rivers.
But be careful not to generalise, in a region with a tourist vocation, in a Romagna that welcomes millions of tourists every year, it is good to specify that what is happening does not concern our Riviera and therefore those who have planned the famous holiday in Romagna can come and enjoy our hospitality and organisation.
by Paride Antolini
President of the Order of Geologists of Emilia – Romagna
