There is no peace for Sibaritide. On the day of the orange alert – yet another in a long series in the last few days – and the arrival of the head of the Civil Protection, Fabio Ciciliano, and the president of the Region, Roberto Occhiuto, the Crati flooded again. The river broke its banks again, near Sibari, making the emergency that had already emerged in recent days even more serious, with many families forced to evacuate and companies brought to their knees by the floods. The mayor of Cassano, Gianpaolo Iacobini, and his staff are permanently in the area to support the operators and volunteers.
Two flood waves and compromised work
“The day that is about to end has a bitter taste,” declared Iacobini. Eight days after the first violent flood, the Sibariti lakes were again invaded by water due to two flood waves that poured into the nautical centre: the first shortly after midday, the second around 4pm. Part of the interventions carried out in the last few days have been compromised and at the moment water levels are recorded between 30 and 40 centimetres.
The positive news, the mayor explained, is that the river has reached its peak and is starting a slow retreat towards its banks. This should allow the resumption of work and the placement of a new failure point, the third in a few days.
“We need a special plan for Crati”
Despite the bitterness, the mayor reiterates the line of determination: “We will not give up and we will carry on until the Sibari lakes return to what they were before.” A new operational meeting with Civil Protection, firefighters and law enforcement is scheduled for Saturday to take stock of the situation and redefine the intervention timetable. A discussion with the condominium administrators is also scheduled for the afternoon.
During the meeting with the national unit of the Civil Protection Department, in the presence of Fabio Ciciliano and the president of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto, the request was made for a special plan for the safety of the Crati river and for certain compensation for productive activities, in particular in the agricultural and tourism sectors, as well as for the families affected. “We move forward – concluded Iacobini – with the support of the volunteers, of Calabria Verde, of the Reclamation Consortium and of the many young people who have arrived from all over the region. It is a difficult moment, but not impossible”.
The meeting in the evening
On the sidelines of the video message sent to the population, Mayor Iacobini also took part in the meeting of the permanent civil protection table set up by the Sibari municipal delegation to plan tomorrow’s interventions at the Sibari Lakes. Present were the municipal and regional civil protection, the deputy mayor Giuseppe La Regina, the municipal councilor for public works Vincenzo Sarubbo, the sector manager Cinzia Basile, the president of the council Sofia Maimone, the president of the Sibari Lakes Association Luigi Guaragna and other members of the municipal council including councilors, councilors and technicians. Mayor Iacobini announced that at the Sibari Lakes there was a new flooding of the Crati due to two floods. Since last Friday, due to the bad weather and the cyclones that hit Calabria, it was necessary to evacuate several families both in the Lattughelle hamlet and in the Sibari lakes.
The situation in Corigliano Rossano
«Today we rechecked all the sections of embankment that collapsed and were rebuilt: there were 7 and this morning we identified another 2 that we will rebuild. We are also practically reconstructing three other sections, protecting them with boulders and blocks: in Thurio, Paturso and Carlo Curti”. The mayor of Corigliano Rossano, Flavio Stasi, said this with a post accompanied by photos and published on his Facebook profile to take stock of the situation on the damage caused by the bad weather which caused the river banks to break. «We rebuilt the road that led to the beach and that of the mouth – said Stasi -. I believe we have exceeded 4 million euros and we are not finished yet, while 8 million euros have remained stagnant for years, together with 500 million for hydrogeological instability. We are doing it as a Municipality, with great urgency and in total operational and economic autonomy, because in these cases, fortunately, the head of civil protection is the mayor and the mayors know what to do. If any other institution wants to help after having slept for 5 years, start from the 800 thousand euros that they never reimbursed for the 2018 flood and from the compensation to our people who on that occasion did not see a cent. We think about protecting our people and our land, others should just apologize.”