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  • The heat gives way to bad weather, yellow alert in four regions

  • Storms are coming in North-East and Central Italy: yellow alert for 5 regions

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August 23, 2021 The arrival of thunderstorms raises the damage toll in the countryside in an area severely tested by heat and drought. In Italy the earth is dry, the fruit and vegetables are burnt, the crops of corn, soy, sunflower and tomato for preservation are depleted and the forage destined for animals in the fields is halved and burnt by the sun or burned by fires with damage estimated at over a billion. 



This is Coldiretti's estimate in reference to the Civil Protection alert in five regions of central north for thunderstorms accompanied by strong showers, local hailstorms, frequent electrical activity and strong gusts of wind. Despite climate change, Italy "remains a rainy country with about 300 billion cubic meters of water falling annually, but only 11% of it is retained due to lack of infrastructure. 



To save water, increase irrigation capacity and increase the availability of food for families, a concrete project that can be immediately set up in the Recovery plan was elaborated and proposed in time - insists Coldiretti - a structural intervention made necessary by the climate changes characterized by alternation of violent precipitations with long periods of absence of water, along the whole national territory ". 



The rain - continues Coldiretti - is expected to combat drought in the countryside but to be of relief it must last for a long time, falling steadily and not too intense, while strong storms, especially with violent rainfall, cause damage because the lands fail. to absorb water that falls violently and tends to move away by sliding causing landslides and landslides.



Climate change with increasingly intense and frequent rainfall with real water bombs in fact hit - underlines Coldiretti - on a territory made more fragile by overbuilding and abandonment.



The Italian municipalities have risen to 7252, or 91.3% of the total risk of landslides and / or floods according to Coldiretti elaborations on Ispra data, according to which the exceptional nature of atmospheric events in Italy is now the norm, with a tendency to tropicalization that occurs with larger hail, a higher frequency of violent events, seasonal delays, short and intense rainfall and the rapid transition from the sun to bad weather. 



The project - concludes Coldiretti - involves the construction of a network of small reservoirs with a low landscape impact and spread throughout the territory, favoring the completion and recovery of existing structures, projects already started and to be started with non-complex authorization procedures, in order to to quickly route the project and optimize the final results. 



The idea is to "build" without the use of cement to reduce the environmental impact ponds in balance with the territories, which conserve water to distribute it rationally to citizens, industry and agriculture, with an important impact on the environment and employment.