Rescue crews worked on Thursday to reach towns and villages in northern Italy still isolated by heavy rains and flooding, as the death toll rose to 13 and authorities began mapping out cleanup and reconstruction plans.
The extreme weather behind this week's disaster — a prolonged drought punctuated by 36 hours of intense rainfall, two weeks after another downpour — led to two dozen rivers and tributaries bursting their banks.
The force of water sent torrents of mud tearing through entire towns in Emilia-Romagna, flooding storefronts and basements.
READ MORE: Exceptional rains in drought-struck northern Italy cause deadly flooding
Local mayors warned that some remote villages were still completely cut off because landslides had made roads impassable and phone service remained severed. That has prevented rescue teams from reaching residents and authorities from understanding the full scope of their needs, said Mercato Seraceno Mayor Monica Rossi.
"If it rains any more, the situation will be tragic," Rossi warned on Sky TG24, standing on a road with a chunk missing from a landslide.
The death toll rose to 13 after more bodies were discovered on Thursday in the hard-hit province of Ravenna, state-run RAI television reported, citing the Ravenna prefecture. Among them: a couple in their 70s found dead in their flooded apartment in Russi after their son sounded the alarm that he had lost contact with them.
By Thursday morning, some parts of the city of Faenza were still underwater, with cars submerged and basements swamped by thick, gooey mud. One family standing on their balcony said they didn't have electricity, gas or food. Other residents took shelter at a local gymnasium, where soldiers set up cots on the basketball court for new arrivals.
"At some point they told us all to leave the area, and about one hour later we heard a loud boom," 29-year-old Faenza resident Claudia said on Thursday, recalling the moment early Wednesday that the nearby Lamone river burst its banks. "The water just flooded all over."
More than 10,000 people fled their homes, some plucked from rooftops or balconies by rescue helicopters and others ferried out on dinghies. One family with a 20-day-old baby was rescued on Thursday morning, said Cesena Mayor Enzo Lattuca. Another packed their belongings into an inflatable pool which they floated down the thigh-high river of mud that was previously a street.
READ MORE: NSW venues must remove all 'VIP Lounge' signage from game rooms
But residents in other towns, such as Castel Bolognese, started cleaning up as the waters receded, with residents shovelling out mud-filled basements and storefronts.
The drought-parched region had already estimated some 1 billion euros in losses from heavy rains earlier this month, but the regional president, Stefano Bonaccini, said the losses now reached multiple billions given the widespread damage to farmland, storefronts and infrastructure.
Italian farm lobby Coldiretti said more than 5000 farms with greenhouses, nurseries and stables had been flooded, covering thousands of acres of vineyards, fruit groves, vegetables farms and grain fields. It said the damage was "incalculable," because not only current harvests but future ones could be affected, given the permanent damage to roots from the "suffocating" mud of the runoff.
Bonaccini has called for the national government to declare a state of emergency, something that is likely when the Cabinet meets next week following Premier Giorgia Meloni's return from the Group of Seven summit in Japan. Already, the region has said it is looking to reconstruction efforts and restoration of vital infrastructure.
"It will take gigantic work" to recover, Bonaccini told a daily briefing.
The Superior Institute for Environmental Protection and Research has identified Emilia-Romagna as one of the most at-risk Italian regions for flooding, where both territory and populations face a greater danger of "hazard scenarios" than the rest of the country.
The hardest-hit eastern part of the region, sandwiched between the Apennine mountain chain and the Adriatic Sea, was first hit by intense rain earlier in May. The second downpour tested the ability of drought-parched soil to absorb water, the institute said, adding that high sea elevations and bora winds against the coast may have contributed to the flooding of rivers and tributaries.
Italy wasn't alone in coping with heavy rainfall, as parts of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia also reported flooding and landslides that required evacuations.
A total of 600 firefighters have been deployed from across Italy to assist with evacuations in the region after Italy's longest river, the Po, broke its banks, the Italian Department for Civil Protection said in a tweet.
Residents in numerous areas across the region, including in the city of Bologna, were asked not to leave their homes.
'Worst night in history'
Pope Francis has expressed "heartfelt sympathy" to the families of victims of the floods, calling it a "staggering disaster." The Pontiff sent a message of condolence to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna, on Thursday.
Francis thanked rescue workers and "all those who in these hours of particular difficulty are working to bring relief and alleviate all suffering."
The city of Ravenna has also been heavily affected. "It's probably been the worst night in the history of Romagna," Ravenna Mayor Michele de Pascale told RAI public radio according to Reuters, saying that 5,000 people had been evacuated from his city alone overnight.
"Ravenna is unrecognisable for the damage it has suffered," he added.
Tweeting on Tuesday evening, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni extended her "total sympathy" to those affected by the flooding, adding that the government stands "ready to intervene with the necessary aid."
This pledge was echoed by Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani in a tweet Wednesday morning, saying that the "government will do everything necessary to help" everyone from "evacuees to those who have lost crops" due to the flooding.
In the neighbouring eastern region of Le Marche, also severely hit by flooding, 200 firefighters have been mobilised for rescue efforts in the past 24 hours, according to the Vigili del Fuoco fire service.
Water disasters linked to climate crisis
The torrential rains come after months of drought that dried out the land – which meteorologists say has reduced its capacity to absorb water, worsening the floods, according to Reuters.
Water levels on northern Italy's Lake Garda fell to record lows in February, with Venice experiencing unusually low tides.
From lengthy droughts to severe flooding, the intensity of water-related disasters around the world has increased over the last two decades as global temperatures climbed to record levels, according to recent research.
The study from NASA scientists published in March in the journal Nature Water found that increasingly frequent, widespread and intense droughts and floods were linked more strongly to higher global temperatures than to naturally changing weather patterns, like El Niño and La Niña. This suggests these intense events will increase as the climate crisis accelerates, the study says.
Formula 1 race cancelled
Formula 1 has announced the cancellation of this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix because of heavy flooding in the region, citing safety concerns.
In a statement shared on Twitter, it said, "It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time."
On Tuesday, Formula 1 staff were asked to leave the site of the race as a precautionary measure, an F1 source told CNN.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the first event of the Formula 1 season in Europe and was scheduled to take place this weekend.
A moment of silence was held ahead of Thursday's games at the Italian Open tennis tournament, which is taking place in Rome.
Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.
