On Monday, September 23, various areas between the provinces of Pisa and Livorno, in Tuscany, were affected by heavy rains that caused flooding, particularly in the Livorno municipalities of San Vincenzo and Castagneto Carducci. Among other things, the rainfall damaged part of the vineyards of Bolgheri, a hamlet of Castagneto Carducci known for the production of very fine red wines, including Bolgheri Sassicaia.
In the Bolgheri area, canals and ditches overflowed and houses, roads and farmland were flooded. Some vineyards were partially uprooted by the water, for example in the vineyards of the Guado al Melo winery: the owners said that approximately 4 of their 23 hectares of vineyards were destroyed. However, both in their vineyards and elsewhere the harvest was almost finished, so there should not be major repercussions on this year’s wine production: “We had already harvested about 80% of the vines. The remaining 20% is still standing for less than half”, explained one of the owners, Annalisa Motta, on Facebook, clarifying that the damage mainly concerns the rows that need to be redone.
Other winemakers said the main problem was the state of the land on which the vineyards stand: the swamp prevented them from using tractors to work on it.
Also in the municipality of Castagneto Carducci, a road was closed due to a landslide, but for the most part the traffic problems caused by the flood have been resolved.
On Tuesday, the president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani announced that in the area where it rained the most, 226 millimeters of rain were recorded in six hours, an amount “greater than the average rainfall in the entire wettest month” and never recorded before in the area since meteorological data have been available.
In Montecatini Val di Cecina, in the Pisa area, the flooding of the Sterza torrent overwhelmed a family of German tourists who were trying to escape by reaching a car: a 62-year-old woman and a 5-month-old child have been missing since Monday evening. The search for the missing woman and child, grandmother and granddaughter, is still ongoing and has involved divers, river rescuers, drones, dog handlers and a firefighter helicopter.
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