Po River Embankment Breach in San Benedetto Causes Major Flooding and Evacuations

After an attempt made at 5 a.m. with excavators by the Magistrato del Po, the river broke on its own yesterday morning at 11:35 a.m., breaching the Po Morto embankment and violently flooding the San Benedetto floodplain. The rupture allowed for the containment of the river level rise until evening, which nonetheless in many points exceeded the absolute record of 1951—by +36 cm in Viadana and +12 cm in Borgoforte. The nightmare is not over, and the highest alert remains, but cautious optimism can now be looked towards the coming days for potential overflows. The tragedy of over 400 displaced people remains, along with the constant danger from fontanazzi, while Ostiglia remains without a water supply, and the reopening of the bridges is scheduled for next week.

Emergency interventions in San Benedetto

For San Benedetto, after a night of confrontation and tension, at 5 a.m. Prefect Gianni Ietto issued the order to cut the Po Morto embankment, which protects the intensely cultivated floodplain of over 6,000 hectares, capable of holding 32 million cubic meters of water, thus making a decisive contribution to lowering the flood level. Approximately 300 residents had been evacuated earlier, but until dawn, law enforcement agencies patrolled the area to ensure it remained deserted.

The breach was made with an excavator at a point far from the river current, near Monte Cucco farm. However, the breach proved insufficient, and thus multiple points began to overflow as the Po’s water level rose throughout the morning. At 11 a.m., the floodplain was still dry, but water was already spilling from the embankment itself in several places, indicating internal fissures. A dangerous situation that did not hold for long.

At 11:35 a.m., opposite the Gorgo hamlet, a section of the five-meter-wide embankment collapsed violently, with a muffled boom heralding an imminent breach. Five minutes later, at the site where a small waterfall had formed, about ten meters of earthworks suddenly gave way with a loud crash.

A cascade of water and mud poured into the floodplain, which in minutes swept away everything in its path. Plants, sheds, poultry farms, silos, agricultural machinery. Also cars and the dangerous gas cylinders, torn from the fury of the current. Law enforcement officers issued evacuation orders for the main embankment, where hundreds of people had gathered since early morning and some since the night, anxiously watching the developments.

Within minutes, the water’s fury overwhelmed everything, flooding the ground floors of homes, knocking down streetlights, and cutting power to half of San Benedetto. After initial tension, the situation stabilized in the afternoon when the waters of the Po and the floodplain balanced out.

The retreat of waters and statements

“When we saw that the cut made with the excavator wouldn’t open,” explains Salvatore Rizzo, Director of the Magistrato del Po, who has been coordinating interventions continuously for 48 hours. “We had already alerted the army. They would have intervened with small explosive charges to widen the breach, but the Po resolved the situation on its own.”

Regarding the main embankment, which is now reached by the Po’s water, there are no dangers. “It was built to contain the river and it performs its task excellently,” he said. However, many residents and the mayor had expressed doubts about the integrity of the earthwork, which had not been reached by water since 1951 and was fragile in many areas, repaired after landslides.

“I must add,” Rizzo further explains, “that this will be remembered as San Benedetto’s flood, much like the flood of 1951 was for Polesine. The sacrifice of Mantovano has saved all downstream areas.” Additionally, the excavation was carried out away from the current so that the entry of water would cause less damage to the crops.

Instead, the Po broke exactly at the point of greatest pressure, creating a true cataract that quickly overwhelmed everything, reaching the base of the main embankment and causing a “bugno”—a deep hole similar to that in 1951.

“When,” say brothers Andrea and Renzo Minelli, “the residents used shovels to make the breach along the embankments, and after two hours, the floodplain was already flooded.”