Bad weather hits the Northeast: damage to structures and fields, one dead in Friuli

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Bad weather hit the Northeast hard during the night between Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 July. In Veneto Abundant rains and strong gusts of wind affected the territories of Vicenza, Treviso and Venice, so much so that Thursday morning the president of the Region, Luca Zaia, declared a regional state of emergency. Firefighters were busy draining basements, clearing downed trees and securing torn roofs. 70 interventions were carried out in Treviso, 40 in Vicenza and Venice. The greatest criticalities were recorded in the Portogruaro area.

Strong gusts of wind and storms also affected Friuli Venezia Giulia, in particular in the territories of Udine and Pordenone, causing flooding, dangerous branches and instability of building structures. A 60-year-old man, resident in the Cervignano area, died after the car he was driving crashed into a wall due to heavy rains. Between the night and the early hours of the morning, the command of Udine carried out 60 interventions, that of Pordenone about fifty. In the Pieris area, in the province of Gorizia, the fire brigade rescued two campers in difficulty due to the rising river Isonzo, while in Torviscosa, in the province of Udine, the wind tore off the roof of a 5 plans: for safety reasons, the fire brigade evacuated 40 residents.

Lombardy also blamed the heavy rains during the night, especially between the provinces of Como and Varese, where almost 500 interventions were carried out in all. In Brescia, strong winds and hail broke trees and uncovered roofs in the Vallecamonica and Garda area, where road 45bis was closed due to the presence of branches on the roadway.

According to an analysis by Coldiretti, conducted on data from the European Sever Weather Database, 38 water, wind, rain and hail storms hit the regions of Northern Italy in a single day, hitting cities and the countryside. In the fields, bad weather has caused damage to wheat, fruit trees and vegetables. According to Coldiretti, the sudden changes in temperature of this 2023 will end up causing losses in national agricultural production and damage to structures in the countryside exceeding 6 billion euros last year.