The Murazzi flooded and the flood of the Po is still awaited, expected in the evening in the center of Turin. After months in which the water levels were so low as to leave large islets uncovered, now from the balustrade you can see a stream that widens out of all proportion, spreading out over the protections: in the late afternoon the water it was a meter above the edge of the bank. The managers of the premises inside the arches watch the water level rise with apprehension and the hangars and piers of the rowing clubs have already been flooded, even though they had sheltered the boats in time.
Already in the morning the Po, after having reached the danger level, 4 meters high, flooded a Villafranca Piedmont, on the border between the provinces of Cuneo and Turin. Flooding also occurred in the town of Cardè, which is located in an area accustomed to water leaking from the river. “An ordinary flood – explains the mayor Matteo Morena -. The situation is alert, but under control. We have closed some roads and we are keeping our attention high”. The provincial roads between Cardè and Villafranca are closed is between Cardè and Cruise of Barge, in addition to the Saluzzo-Pinerolo state road at Staffarda. Closed, further downstream, on the provincial road between Faule and Pancalieri, again due to the flooding of the Po.
Situation under close observation also in the Turin area and Coldiretti is sounding the alarm. The level of the Po river rose by 1.5 meters in just one day at the Murazzi of Turin in Piedmont where it has reached pre-warning levels in several points and many watercourses are also under observation due to the bad weather that has devastated Romagna but with heavy damage also in the neighboring regions from Tuscany to the Marches. This is what emerges from the monitoring of the Coldiretti which highlights the effects of the strong perturbations that hit the Peninsula in May after the first quarter of 2023 had recorded 15% less rainfall but with peaks of over 40% less in the north, compared to the historical average according to Isac Cnr data.
“If in Piedmont – underlines Coldiretti – there is alarm for the flooding of the Po, the situation of the largest Italian river is representative of the difficulties in which numerous watercourses find themselves in Piedmont with the risk of flooding with the possibility of landslides, trees and flooding.These are the effects of the intense rainfall that hit, together with Romagna, important agricultural areas of the country with the weather alert extending from Piedmont to Lazio, from Sicily to Calabria while it remains red in Romagna where the damage is counted even in neighboring regions.
“In three days we recorded over 220 millimeters of rain. They were critical, but the municipal operating machine did its job very well, together with the volunteers of the Civil Protection and the Province”. The says it Mayor of Barga (Cuneo), Ivo Beccaria. “The situation of our streams – continues Beccaria – has always been under control, even if we had to close the Saluzzo-Pinerolo state road at the height of the bridge over the Ghiandone stream, which had flooded. We hope to reopen it within the day. We have recorded several landslides in the hills , but minor. In the next few days – concludes the mayor of Barge – we will have a more precise picture of the situation”
