EMILIA-ROMAGNAFLOODS

By Leela Menon '25

“L’acqua, come il fuoco - pulisce e devasta.”“Water is like fire, it cleanses and devastates ” The Northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna and parts of Le Marche have witnessed devastating floods over the past week. Dubbed the worst floods to affect Italy in 100 years, 15 people have been killed, thousands have been left without shelter, and the lifestyles of many workers in the region has been abruptly halted. The first floods began on May 2nd and May 3rd, with a second wave hitting on Monday, 15th of May, as a direct result of heavy downpours leading to the overflow of 23 rivers across the district This torrential rainfall deposited an average of 200 millimeters of rainwater over the flooded areas, with the heavily affected areas receiving over 500 millimeters of rainfall