Overall Green alert Flood
in Italy

Event summary

This flood can have a low humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID FL 1101976
Death: 17
Displaced: 36450
Countries: Italy
From - To 01 May - 26 May

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Italy - Floods and landslides (ECHO 04 May 2023)Thu, 04 May 2023 11:13

  • Heavy rainfall affected northern Italy (in particular the Emilia-Romagna Region) over the period from 30 Apr to 3 May, causing floods, rivers overflow - particularly Senio, Sillaro and Lamone Rivers - and triggering landslides that have resulted in casualties and widespread damage.
  • Media report, as of 4 May, two fatalitities, of which one in the Fontanelice Municipality (Bologna Province) due to a landslide and one more in the Castel Bolognese Municipality (Ravenna Province) due to the overflow of the Senio River. In addition, 500 people have been evacuated - a number of these across some temporary accomodation centres - throughout the Provinces of Ravenna (the worst affected) and Bologna. Some schools have been closed and roads interrupted.
  • The Italian Civil Protection has issued, as of 3 May, a red alert for hydraulic risk over central-eastern Emilia Romagna Region. As of the same date, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service was activated in rapid mapping () for the affected area.
  • Over the next 24 hours, no more rainfall and drier conditions are forecast over northern Italy.
Italy - Severe weather, floods and landslides, update (ECHO 19 May 2023)Fri, 19 May 2023 11:55

  • More than 20 rivers overflowed and several Municipalities have been affected by floods and almost 300 landslides.
  • The death toll increased following heavy rainfall and strong winds that affected particularly the Emilia Romagna Region (northern-central Italy) over the past few days. According to the national authorities, as of 19 May, 13 people have died (of whom six in the Forlì-Cesena Province, five in the Ravenna Province, one in the Bologna City area and another in Cesena City), 10,000 have been evacuated most of them across the Provinces of Bologna, Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna and more than 200 roads have been closed.
  • Electric system and telephone communication interruptions have been occurred.
  • On 19 May, red alerts for hydraulic risk and hydrogeological risk are in effect over most of the Emilia Romagna, particularly over the eastern areas of the Region.
  • For the next 24 hours, moderate rain with localized thunderstorms is expected over most of Emilia Romagna.
  • The Copernicus EMS was activated on 16 May in rapid mapping () for the affected area.
Flood in Italy - EC/ECHO daily mapFri, 19 May 2023 19:19

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Italy - Severe weather, floods and landslides, update (ECHO 22 May 2023)Mon, 22 May 2023 11:36

  • Heavy rainfall affected the Emilia-Romagna Region (northern Italy) from 16 to 20 May, causing severe floods, rivers overflow and triggering several landslides (over 300, according to media) that have resulted in casualties and widespread damage.
  • The Italian Civil Protection and media report, as of 21-22 May, 13 fatalities and 1 missing person across Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna Provinces. Same sources also reports 36,000 still evacuated people. More than 500 roads were reported closed across the Region, particularly due to landslides.
  • The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) was activated in rapid mapping (EMSR664) for the affected area, eight maps had been produced so far.
  • On 20 May, Italy requested assistance from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) for high capacity pumping modules with equipment. So far nine countries offered assistance. 
  • Over the next 24 hours, no more heavy rainfall is forecast over the whole Emilia-Romagna Region. The red alert for hydraulic and hydrogeological risk over eastern Emilia Romagna issued by the Italian Civil Protection is still in force.
Italy - Severe weather, floods and landslides, update (ECHO 24 May 2023)Wed, 24 May 2023 10:52

  • According to the Italian Civil Protection, as of 23 May, the number of evacuated stands at 23,000 people (most of them in Ravenna Province) following the severe weather that hit the Emilia Romagna Region in the past week. In addition, a total of 14 people died, of whom seven were in Ravenna Province, six in Forlì-Cesena Province and another in Bologna Province.
  • As of 23 May, Italy has deployed 8449 rescuers, 1809 vehicles, 98 rescue boats and 24 helicopters in the emergency response. On the field are still operating more than 800 volunteers.
  • On 20 May, Italy requested assistance from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) for high capacity pumping modules with equipment. As a response, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia offered High Capacity Pumping (HCP) modules from the European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) and Bulgaria offered one HCP module from its own national capacity. High Capacity Pumping teams from Slovenia, Slovakia and France are already working in Italy, and the Belgium team is expected to join soon.
  • The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) was activated in rapid mapping EMSR664 for the affected area and 12 maps had been produced so far.
Flood in Italy - EC/ECHO daily mapFri, 26 May 2023 19:02

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Italy - Severe weather, floods and landslides, update (ECHO 28 May 2023)Sun, 28 May 2023 08:47

  • According to the Italian Civil Protection, as of 27 May, 20,500 people has been displaced, out of which 1,554 individuals are being accommodated in hotels and facilities established by the municipalities. 12 nationwide roads are still affected, some of them in multiple sections.
  • There are 6,337 personnel involved in the activities, including 1,790 national volunteers actively engaged in the affected area, utilizing a total of 179 dewatering pumps.
  • The EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) high capacity pumping modules from  France, Belgium, Slovakia, and Slovenia are operating with 118 personnel involved, and have already pumped out 1 157,260 cubic meter of water.
  • The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) was activated in rapid mapping for the affected area and 12 maps had been produced so far.
Flood in Italy - EC/ECHO daily mapThu, 01 Jun 2023 18:07

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportSat, 20 May 2023 13:30

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportFri, 19 May 2023 01:10

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportTue, 23 May 2023 01:25

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportMon, 22 May 2023 22:37

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportSun, 21 May 2023 23:45

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportThu, 04 May 2023 20:30

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportSun, 07 May 2023 21:54

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportSat, 06 May 2023 01:22

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportFri, 05 May 2023 22:30

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Flood in Italy - JRC emergency reportWed, 03 May 2023 19:35

A new JRC Emergency report is now available
Sicily Region, Italy, Late May 2023Firefighters carried out 40 interventions in the Metropolitan city of Catania, Sicily Region, Italy, after sever weather including heavy rain, strong winds and floods 20 to 21 May 2023. Most of the interventions were in areas of Mascalucia, Paternò and Palagonia.Mon 22 May 2023FloodList provided by Copernicus GLOFAS
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Articles: 232 | About casualties: 64 | Last hour: 0

Alluvione: il centro medico depredato da tutti i macchinari2023-05-29T10:29+0200.

Romagna: gli sciacalli non fermano la solidarietà Alluvione: il centro medico depredato da tutti i macchinari si riattrezza e riapre con esami gratis per gli alluvionati Da oggi fino a fine giugno al centro Astrea di Cerba Healthcare Italia
...(more)
start vaccines against infectious diseases2023-05-28T10:47+0200.

It will still take days, at least a week to dry up and reclaim the water in the towns affected by the flood in Emilia Romagna. In addition to water, there is now the problem of disposing of the accumulated mud and the health emergency risk
...(more)
Google Flood Hub arriva in Italia2023-05-27T06:09+0200.

Google Flood Hub è una piattaforma tecnologica di Google basata sull’intelligenza artificiale che permette di elaborare modelli previsionali relativi alle inondazioni fluviali consentendo di desumere dove si verificheranno e quando. Il sist
...(more)
Heavy rains turn streets into rivers on Spain's Mediterranean coast MA ... 2023-05-26T12:40+0200.

MADRID (Reuters) – Torrential rains on Thursday that followed a prolonged drought turned streets into rivers that swept away cars and nearly some pedestrians in towns along Spain’s Mediterranean coast. In Molina de Segura in the southeaster
...(more)

Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (36), (2), NASA (7), INGV (2), WMO (1), INFORM (2),