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Flood in Genoa, Italy followed by chaos

by THOMAS O’SCANNELL Staff Writer

Disastrous floods hit the Italian port city of Genoa starting October 16, leaving one dead and creating endless work in order to rebuild the city.

The 17-inch rainfall hit Genoa over a 24-hour period, the Bisagno river swekolled and flooded the city. There was a full emergency status and a strong police presence in the city until Monday, October 20.

A 57-year-old man, whose name has not been released, died.

A place like Genoa, which borders some occasionally uncooperative bodies of water such as the Bisagno, is particularly in danger of ravaging natural disasters due to its unfortunately-placed natural borders. With €200 million ($252.52 million) worth of damages, as calculated by the city’s governor Claudio Burlando, debate was reignited over just how safe a country as unsafe geographically like Italy really is.

Corriere della Sera, Italy’s most widely-read daily newspaper, said, “The mud of Genoa, shame of a country.”

People in Genoa are desperately awaiting news on when their city will be restored fully and receive any compensation they may need.

Francesco Vincenzi, president of the ANBI, an organization which deals with solving problems caused by floods, said, “What is really alarming is how little has been done in three years to make Genoa secure from another flooding disaster. The problem of water security in Italy isn’t mainly to do with resources, it’s about political will and bureaucracy.”

Every disaster is met with cries to impose regulations that will make a situation like it have a very low possibility of happening again, and the flooding in Genoa joins that rank.

Critics now have another reason to bash the Italian government, piling onto pre-existing problems such a very unstable economy.

Many people feel the Italian government should be much more efficient when dealing with situations like these, including sophmpre Sam D’Urso who said, “I feel bad for Italy since my family lives there, and I agree that the government is bad at preventing disasters; I am not a a big fan of the government, they don’t have the smartest ideas.”

A similar flood hit Genoa in 2011 in which seven people perished (two of whom were children), and there had been calls to expand security of the Bisagno since. Now, with lightning striking twice, work to help improve the safety of all unstable areas in Italy should be at hand very shortly.

There have been a number of new activities or initiatives being launched by all Italians to help relieve the victims of the flood. Fundraisers and events being planned to benefit the victims are just a couple of big actions to aid in helping the victims. The flood has also gained the attention of the country’s favorite sport – European football.

The Italian national team is scheduling a friendly match against Albania on Tuesday, November 18 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa (the stadium is also home to Genovesi Serie A teams Genoa and Sampdoria). All proceeds are expected to go directly to a Genovesi flood relief fund.

It is currently unclear as to how long it may take to bring Genoa back to normal.

Have you heard about the flood in Genoa? What can you do to help?

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