Italy’s flood disasters are traumatic for the regions and citizens affected, and for its state and national authorities. They are a warning too for other Europeans that potentially catastrophic climate change induced by human action is here to stay on the continent.
In parts of the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions 20 inches of rain fell in 36 hours last week, between one half and two-thirds of the entire annual average. This happened after long periods of drought hardened landscapes, speeding up runoffs and mudslides and causing 23 rivers to break their banks. At least 15 people have died and 36,000 are displaced, agriculture and industry are disrupted and the damage to localities, towns and cities runs into billions of euro.
The disasters expose many shortcomings in Italian public policy, which has been ill-prepared for such shocks. A comprehensive national plan spelling out the issues was delayed and then neglected. Investment to dredge rivers, build dams and repair water systems is way behind needs. According to Arcangelo Francesco Violo, the head of Italy’s National Council of Geologists, “intensive and disorderly urbanisation in recent decades along with high density soil consumption have had an impact”. Emergency services have done heroic work but remain under-funded. Central government’s capacity is widely questioned.
There is no doubting all this will have to change. Italy, flanked by two warming seas, is especially prone to extreme weather events, having suffered a fivefold increase in them over a decade, whether through tornadoes, flooding, ice avalanches, mud slides, thunder and lightning, or huge hailstone storms. The potential damage to modern high technology infrastructure as well as traditional and historic locations will have to become central to public planning.
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There are many lessons, too, for other European peoples and governments. These Italian events show we are in a period of profound ecological change. It requires focused preventative and mitigatory action at European as well as national levels.