Red warnings have been issued for the island of Sicily and the city of Catania on Wednesday and Thursday, which have already been hit by adverse weather throughout the week.
The storm is forecast to persist across the region through the weekend, with more rain expected.
According to climate data in the nearby city of Catania, a typhoon-like storm system that formed over the Mediterranean Sea dumped a year’s worth of rain in the Linguaglossa region in a span of two days.
Giuseppa Maria Spampinato, a Catania-based government official, told CNN on Tuesday that the situation was “very serious”. From a view from his office window, Spampinato noted that the city’s main street – Via Etnea – appears to be completely submerged. Is.
According to the forecast, it will cause more heavy rainfall in Sicily and Calabria by Friday, with local areas likely to receive more than 100 mm and up to 250 mm of rain.
Medicines come twice a year, usually between September and December.
Catania Mayor Salvo Pogliez ordered schools and public gardens to remain closed due to the situation on Tuesday, according to Catania’s municipality website. The expected storms of “special intensity” also prevented residents from stopping in areas subject to landslides and coastal roadways.
Salvo Cocina, the head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, told Reuters a man was found dead on Monday amid floods. A search is on for others, and the country’s Fire and Rescue Service said it had received hundreds of callouts.
The system is not expected to threaten the G20 talks in Rome, but further accelerates the ongoing efforts of many countries to commit the world to tough climate change goals.
As Earth’s atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture, which is why the world has historically received heavy rains. But the climate crisis is also causing prolonged droughts, or droughts, that make land and soil so dry that it cannot effectively absorb rain normally. This combination makes floods more likely, and often more devastating.
CNN’s Angela Dewan, Sarah Dean, Livia Borghese and Monica Garrett contributed reporting
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