At least one dead, hundreds evacuated as storms batter Emilia Romagna
A man in his 80s drowned after being swept away by flood waters while riding his bicycle in Castel Bolognese, in the province of Ravenna, sources said on Wednesday, ANSA reports.
The man is thought to have been riding on a road that was closed off to traffic due to the risk of flooding, the sources said.
Furthermore, rescuers are trying to establish whether anyone was trapped inside a house that collapsed at Fontanelice (Bologna) after being hit by a landslide.
Over 250 people had to be evacuated from their homes in the region overnight due to the floods.
The Army has been called in to help firefighters, who conducted 400 interventions in the region overnight, and the civil-protection department in the operations.
The evacuations regarded the province of Ravenna, with around 100 people affected in the Faenza area, another 100 around Biancanigo di Castel Bolognese and some 60 people residing in Conselice.
The torrential rain caused some rivers to reach dangerous levels and rail operator FS had to suspend several services - between Faenza and Forlì, Russi and Lugo, Russi and Granarolo, and Lavezzola and Mezzano.
Many roads were closed too in the provinces of Bologna and Ravenna due to flooding and landslides caused by the rain, leading to major traffic jams.
Experts said intense bouts of rainfall like this one will do little to alleviate the water shortage that northern Italy is experiencing after a prolonged period of low precipitation levels.
Scientists say that extreme weather events like heat waves, supercharged storms, flooding and droughts are becoming more frequent and more intense because of climate change caused by human greenhouse-gas emissions.