Cloudburst in Veneto: Verona city centre worst hit
Environment — di Rudi Bressa
Verona goes underwater. Hundreds of calls to the fire brigade, with significant damage also in the Garda wine-growing areas.
Cloudburst in Veneto: Verona city centre worst hit
Verona goes underwater. Hundreds of calls to the fire brigade, with significant damage also in the Garda wine-growing areas.
A violent cloudburst struck the provinces of Verona, Padova and Vicenza at around 7:00 pm. Violent gusts of wind, hail and rain flooded several neighbourhoods of Verona, with over a metre of water recorded in particular in the Santo Stefano area. There were more than 120 emergency calls to the fire brigade caused by fallen trees, flooded roads and impassable alleyways. Damage in the surrounding countryside was also extremely severe.
"It was surreal. We reached and exceeded the Adige flood level of the 1880s. The damage count, this time, will be even more devastating," Gianfranco Sacchetto, spokesperson for the Santo Stefano committee, told L'Arena. The committee has for years been raising the alarm over the serious hydrogeological situation in the neighbourhood, including in light of the recent works carried out by Acque Veronesi.
Fiume di grandine #verona
Verona's streets turned into raging torrents
The numerous images circulating on social media show streets flooded with hail and transformed into torrents powerful enough to sweep parked cars away. Veneto regional president Luca Zaia will sign the declaration of a state of crisis for the municipality of Verona and neighbouring municipalities. Many other municipalities in the provinces of Vicenza and Padova, in the surrounding countryside, were also affected.
#Verona:
Perché nel pomeriggio è stata colpita da un violento nubifragio: pioggia e grandine hanno causato danni in città, trasformando le strade in fiumi di fango e ghiaccio
Perché nel pomeriggio è stata colpita da un violento nubifragio: pioggia e grandine hanno causato danni in città, trasformando le strade in fiumi di fango e ghiaccio
"In ten minutes, something equivalent to Storm Vaia came crashing down on Verona. I've never seen fury like it." So said the mayor of Verona, Federico Sboarina, to Ansa. "Wind, water and hail of extraordinary proportions left the city looking like a battlefield."