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CLIMATE CRISIS

IN PHOTOS: Devastation after deadly flash floods hit central Italy

Flash flooding triggered by heavy rainfall left several towns in the Marche region devastated on Friday, with at least 10 people killed and four missing. 

Published: 16 September 2022 17:34 CEST
IN PHOTOS: Devastation after deadly flash floods hit central Italy
Abandoned cars in front of a flooded house in Pianello di Ostra, Ancona, following flash floods that left at least ten people dead. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

Photos and video shared online by residents showed terrifying scenes as fast-moving rivers of mud and water swept through towns, while images from AFP showed the aftermath of the devastating floods as emergency crews searched for the missing and helped clear up damage on Friday.

UPDATE: Death toll rises to 10 in flash floods in central Italy

People clean a flooded street following floods in Pianello di Ostra, Ancona. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“It was scary because it happened so fast. It sounded like a waterfall,” said Laura Marinelli, 33, who grabbed her 18-month-old daughter and ran to neighbours upstairs as her ground-floor home near Ostra began to flood.

The waters kept rising and they climbed onto the roof to call for help.

“We’ve lost everything, all the photos, all the letters you can’t replace,” she told AFP, plastic pink toys floating in the submerged garden nearby.

Residents clear up and assess the damage after flash flooding in the Italian province of Ancona, Marche. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP.

Some of the worst damage was seen in the town of Senigallia, while small towns surrounding the tourist town of Urbino were also badly affected.

The fire brigade said it had rescued dozens of people overnight “who took refuge on roofs and in trees” during the floods.

 
Footage of the inland hamlet of Pianello di Ostra showed streets caked with mud and cars piled up after being swept away by flood water.

The wave of bad weather that hit the area “was not expected at these levels, we had no alert in place. The flooding was sudden,” Marche regional councilor for civil protection Stefano Aguzzi told Ansa.

READ ALSO: Italy records ‘five times’ more extreme weather events in ten years

People clean a flooded street in Pianello di Ostra, Ancona. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“There was no time to intervene. There are people who may have been on the street or who had gone out not realising the danger.”

Several areas in Ancona were without electricity or telephone connections. Schools were closed on Friday in the affected areas.

People recovering their belongings in Pianello di Ostra. Photo by Alessandro DI MEO / ANSA / AFP

A flooded field in Sassoferrato, Ancona province, Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP
 

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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