November 18, 2014.
Anxiety for the Po River
As happens every time the North is hit by heavy rains, sooner or later the mass of water flows into the Po River. Along the river, the alert level is at its highest: in Lombardy alone, around 650 people have been evacuated as a precaution from the riverbanks and its tributaries, and more than a thousand have been displaced in Emilia. The peak of the flood wave early this morning was between the provinces of Cremona, Mantova, and Reggio Emilia, that is, between Casalmaggiore and Boretto. The water level is above level 3, the highest, all the way to the mouth. In Mantova, the bridge over the Po between Viadana and Boretto and the bridge over the Po at San Benedetto have been closed. (Source: RaiNews)
Evacuated neighborhoods and homes, traffic disruptions, and water continuing to rise, flooding the floodplain areas protecting the municipalities. This is the scenario painted by the Po River flood, which, after the recent rains, has traversed the Parma area (in Polesine Parmense, the flood peak reached 7.70 meters last night and over 8 meters in Colorno) and is now flowing into the Reggio Emilia area. In Luzzara, the flood wave has exceeded the Fogarino levee and is spilling into the floodplain. The water will reach the homes where 41 people have already been evacuated.
The Po has also breached the floodplain levee in Gualtieri and will reach the Livello homes, where about fifteen people live, who have also been evacuated. In these two Reggio Emilia municipalities, the levee breach was not carried out because it was estimated that the damage would have been greater, so the Great River was allowed to overflow. However, the main levees are holding without issues and currently do not pose any concerns. The flood reached a peak of 8.12 meters on the Boretto gauge at 7:00 a.m. The breach of the Fogarino levee was anticipated: “We expected it. Right after the breach, which floods 200 hectares of land, the river level in Luzzara began to drop from 8.9 to 8.85 meters,” explains Luzzara’s mayor and provincial secretary of the PD, Andrea Costa, who confirms the closure of schools and the levee for tomorrow following the crisis unit under the Prefecture’s supervision. The flood is expected to reach the Ferrara area between the afternoon and evening. There are no signs of levee breaches, and the only ongoing issue is infiltration, which the entire provincial coordination structure will continue to monitor at least until next Sunday. This is the summary from the new meeting convened at the Prefecture to follow the situation’s developments.
The closure of the right Po river cycle path has been confirmed for precautionary reasons, extended to bicycles and pedestrians, with a recommendation to adhere to the ordinance and cooperate with the law enforcement agencies providing surveillance services, especially regarding access ramps, with particular attention in the evening as the path is not lit. In detail, Maurizio Montani, an Aipo engineer, confirmed that the new flood wave does not present particularly high levels. Instead, the duration is of significant concern, with the utmost attention needed for infiltration into the levee structures, which may persist even after the flood has passed. Meanwhile, municipal operations centers remain active for any needs. ANAS currently does not see the need to close the Pontelagoscuro road bridge, as the current water level is at 2.68 meters, still sufficiently below the 3.5 meters threshold that would necessitate a closure for safety reasons. The same applies to Ferrovie dello Stato, which excludes any measures regarding the railway bridge, following the interventions carried out after the 2000 flood. Finally, there are no plans to close schools, as no urgent situations are currently identified.
The hydrometric level in Casalmaggiore, in the province of Cremona on the border with the province of Parma, remains extremely high: 6 meters and 94 centimeters as of the latest update at 3:50 p.m., after a maximum peak of 7 meters and 1 centimeter reached at 7:00 a.m. (Source: Meteoweb)
