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City counts hail storm damages
“It rains like this every 40 years”. This was the comment of climate expert Gianpiero Marracchi yesterday regarding the 3.40 PM hail storm in Florence. It was a storm that hit the headlines of Italian newspapers too. “It was like a hurricane,” Marracchi said, commenting the effects of the flood. Effectively, it was.
5000 young kids were taken by panic at the Piazzale Michelangelo where there was a recording of a MTV program. They began to flee without knowing where to go, since it is so difficult to find cover in such a big open space like the Piazzale.
Traffic was paralyzed until dinnertime, many streets were damaged, some were closed, sidewalks and cellars flooded, and electric lines fell. The most hit areas were San Frediano and the Oltrarno.
The buildings and palaces most devastated were the Comunale Theatre and the Palacongressi, located just by the station. Damages were reported also to the old Medici-Riccardi palace –where there are the offices of the Province of Florence - and the Michelangelo palace.
The flood also exposed one of the many problems of the city: the inadequate drainage system. The President of Publiacqua, the Association in charge for the distribution of public water and the drainage systems of the city, said today that at this moment “there is not enough money” to improve the system.
Florence News - a7.06.08.16.56
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