Romagna is once again on its knees: during the night between Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th September the provinces of Bologna, Ravenna, Ferrara, Rimini, Forlì and Cesena were hit by a violent wave of bad weather which caused hundreds of landslides, mudslides and floods.
Several rivers have flooded and there are thousands of people displaced: this morning it seemed that there were also two citizens missing in Bagnocavallo (province of Ravenna), but in the last few hours the provincial prefect declared that no complaint has been filed in this regard.
Flood in Emilia Romagna, the mayor of Brisighella (Ravenna) is very harsh on the actions of the Region and Commissioner Figliuolo
Among commentators, experts and professionals, many were surprised by the dramatic impact that this latest flood had on the Emilia Romagna region. Fortunately, we are not counting the 17 deaths in May 2023, but this time too the overall amount of damage will be very high indeed.
Anyone who does not show any surprise at what happened is Massimiliano Pederzolimayor of Brisighella, on the Ravenna Apennines. His is a feeling of anger mixed with disappointment for a situation that, at least in part, in his opinion could have been avoided. And he points the finger at the Region – governed until a few weeks ago by Stephen Bonaccini – and against the commissioner structure managed by Francis Paul Son.
Interview with Massimiliano Pederzoli, mayor of Romagna hit by yet another flood: “Region commissioner has not spent the money for reconstruction”
Mayor Pederzoli, it happened again.
“Unfortunately, at the moment, in our municipality we still have 130 displaced people, dozens of landslides and several flooded structures throughout the municipal territory. I know that many other municipalities in the Ravenna area are in this situation. For the third time in 16 months, between 250 and 300 millimetres of rain fell in just a few hours”.
Arpa had predicted a lighter disturbance.
“I no longer trust the Arpa technicians. Every time the forecasts are denied. To implement all the prevention strategies we can no longer rely on bulletins that have no credibility”.
Why is Romagna once again on its knees due to bad weather?
“In these 16 months we have maintained our roads as best we can, we have constantly cleared the sewer system, using all the resources at our disposal. However, in addition to all this, a great deal of work needs to be done cleaning of ditches and river beds. Unfortunately, this has not been done, the tree trunks continue to occupy the waterways, while the banks are increasingly weak due to the nests of nutria and badgers. Municipalities like ours do not have a structure that can intervene in all these situations at the same time”.
Who should do it?
“The Region and the commissioner structure. After last year’s landslides, consolidation work should have been done to avoid new ones. Instead, the money received from the State was not spent, the interventions remained only on paper. After the flood of May 2023, estimates were made 8 billion euros in damagesin this first year 2.5 arrivedwhich could be sufficient if they were transformed into infrastructure and invested in infrastructural interventions. But this has not happened. And today we are paying for this immobility”
Have you been able to discuss these issues with Bonaccini and Figliuolo in recent months?
“I met the commissioner twice Francis Paul Son and I explained to him the critical issues that our municipalities are experiencing. He seemed understanding and prepared, but unfortunately I did not see any concrete action follow his words: We have been waiting since April for the commissioner’s orders to be able to proceed with dozens of works and interventions. While with Stephen Bonaccini there was no opportunity for discussion: if I had the chance to meet him, I would like to ask him why he has been in Romagna in recent years they were not done river floodplainsessential to avoid damage during times of heavy rain”.
So Minister Nello Musumeci (head of the Civil Protection Department) is right, ndr) and the Deputy Minister Galeazzo Bignami (Department of Infrastructure and Transport, ndr) when they blame the “bad governance of the left in Emilia Romagna”?
“I don’t want to create political controversy. I just want to draw attention to a operational deficiency which led to the consequences of these hours. There is a bureaucratic factor that always slows everything down, this is clear for all to see. But if we add to this a lack of efficiency, the result can only be dramatic”
Supporters of differentiated autonomy maintain that procedures would be speeded up if the Region were to assume specific responsibility for matters concerning land management and tenders for construction sites: do you agree with administrative decentralisation?
“I have been in favor of differentiated autonomy for many years. We need to encourage local administrators to always work to the best of their ability. Mayors, governors, provincial presidents: all we need to take more responsibility to prevent our territory from being at the mercy of climatic events and, at the same time, of bureaucratic delays”
