Po Flood Peaks and Emergency Actions Amid Record Water Levels
Today is the day of the full flood. Yesterday at 5 PM, the peak was reached at Casalmaggiore, surpassing the historic 1951 flood limit by twenty centimeters, confirming that this is truly the largest wave of the century. This morning at dawn, the floodwater left Viadana and is now heading towards Borgoforte and the Bassa plains. The hourly increase has slowed: seven centimeters per hour yesterday, down from ten the day before. This is because almost all the floodplains are now submerged, thereby lowering the river level.
Last night at 11 PM, it was also decided to cut the Po Morto floodplain in front of San Benedetto – maintained as a last reserve – where the Po river water has never entered, and therefore the embankments may be fragile.
The peak and emergency measures
The peak, as mentioned, of this very long flood (the wave lasts 5-6 hours) is today in the Mantovano area. The intense water pressure yesterday caused dozens of fountain gushes, spontaneous infiltrations of water dragging sand underneath the embankments. The first three appeared last night in Banzuolo di Viadana, then near Torre d’Oglio, in Motteggiana, and Boccadiganda.
To contain these, the Magistrato per il Po intervened immediately: sandbags are arranged in a circle around the geyser up to the desired height. When the water escaping is clear and no longer mixed with sand, the danger is over; however, the fountain is still monitored for several hours.
So far, approximately six thousand sandbags have been used. To put this in perspective, in 1951, when the embankments were lower and less robust, 600,000 were used. The Civil Engineering Corps had employed 18,000 people to position them.
Displaced residents and land management
Regarding evacuees, the prefecture confirmed that 500 people have been ordered to leave their homes. Yesterday, firefighters and civil protection had to carry out several operations to escort residents onto solid ground using amphibious vehicles.
Most of the floodplains are currently submerged. The Magistrato per il Po has proceeded to cut several of them: Motteggiana, La Barna in Correggio Micheli, Carbonara Po, Sermide; and last night, a meeting was held in the prefecture and the municipal office in San Benedetto to decide on the cut of Po Morto, the floodplain opposite San Benedetto that has never been touched by Po water, not even in 1951.
The flooding of large areas close to the river helps to reduce the level, “for the Mantovano area, but also for towns further downstream,” comments engineer Giuseppe Morselli. “This is to prevent the Po from reaching the Rodigino with destructive speed and flow. The same process has occurred upstream; Piacenza has done it for Cremona, Cremona for us Mantovani.”