Farming News - Storms cause flooding in France, Italy and Balkan Pennisula

Storms cause flooding in France, Italy and Balkan Pennisula

 

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Floodlist report that heavy rainfall was seen across central and south-eastern France, resulting in major flooding in the region of Burgundy. Flooding also affected parts of the Cévennes area, in particular the Ardèche.

Heavy rain and storm like conditions has brought flooding to Northern Italy as the water level of the river Po rose by more than four meters in just twenty four hours.

Coldiretti, the Italian farmers union, said that the deluge had destroyed many orchards and vineyards while livestock such as lambs were drowned. They complained that poor land management had contributed to the disaster. Bad weather has already cost farmers around one billion euros this year.

In a statement from Coldiretti they say that “We are facing the dramatic effects of climate change that have occurred this year with the growing number of extreme events, seasonal lags and short but intense rainfall and the sudden transition from cloudy to bad weather with real bombs of water that the soil cannot absorb." The sector has also been hit hard by the Russian embargo on EU foodstuffs and low prices.

Italy's unstable, mountainous landscape leaves it vulnerable to flooding and landslides, a problem long made worse the abandonment of farmland and reckless construction.  "A flawed development program which has reduced the countryside by 15 percent and eliminated 2.15 million hectares of cultivated land in the last 20 years is far from innocent in this situation," said Coldiretti.

Accuweather are forecasting that flooding remains a concern across Italy and the western parts of the Balkan Peninsula as a potent storm system sits stubbornly over the region. Meteo Farnce have red alerts out for further storms and flooding for saying that in the Swiss Alps, no less than 2 metres of snow fell on the side of the Matterhorn, at high altitude. The highway from Austria to Italy over the Inssbruck pass was paralyzed by 50 cm of snow Thursday morning.


The storm has already been responsible for heavy rain and flooding from southern France to northern Italy and western Austria with snow burying parts of the Alps. At Andermatt, Switzerland, rain in excess of 100 mm (4 inches) at the start of the storm changed over to 91 cm (36 inches) of snow from Wednesday through Wednesday night.