Heavy rains have lashed northern and central Italy throughout July. As predicted by weather forecast, cooler than average temperatures have caractherised the Italian summer season so far with warm spells broken up by cooler periods of high precipitation.
Sardinia was hit by violent gale force wind, the river Seveso flooded three times over three weeks in Milan, a small tornado hit Corigliano in Genoa, Varese's lake flooded the city and in Senigallia, near Ancona, people were evacuated from their homes overnight after heavy rain caused the Misa river to spill over its banks as it did last May.
In Emilia Romagna, civil protection authorities are on "pre-alarm" levels, closely monitoring the situation, after some homes in the towns of Cento and Casumaro got flooded.
In Modena traffic was disrupted as the Cavo Cerca canal overtopped its banks as a result of last night heavy rains, forcing local authorities to close off a road running parallel to the river and stranding vehicles.
With more rain forecast in the coming hours, several regions including Umbria, le Marche, Tuscany, Lombardy, Campania and the island of Sardinia are on storm alert.
Luckily, long-range forecast models are finally forecasting a return to seasonal weather over the next week or two and the warm August sun should quickly bring temperatures towards seasonal values.
