Italy floods: At least eight dead and several missing after ‘water bomb’ hits Marche region
IndependentMAY 2022
Northern Italy's fertile flat land is particularly vulnerable to flooding and is susceptible to landslides during heavy rains. However, as torrential rains usually hit Italy only once every 100 to 150 years, Italy's geographic vulnerability to climate disasters is tough for the administration to deal with, as it is not financially or politically justifiable to make the infrastructural changes needed to defend against this kind of flooding. Meloni's government is responding as effectively as possible to this emergency.
Italy has learned nothing from the last year's devastating flash floods or from the country's worst drought in seven decades. Despite the crescendo of extreme weather events, Italian policymakers are continuing to pretend that nothing is happening. The government must do more to future-proof Italy against catastrophic devastation with longer term investment, including through the allocation of the billions of dollars necessary to counter hydrogeological instability.