Just in case anybody heard the news...
The bridge on the national road connecting Piacenza and the opposite bank of the river Po collapsed at 12.20 - or so they say. Some wounded, but no victims, thanks goodness.
I'm a little shaken as I had walked under, and driven over, that same bridge from 11 to 12 a.m., just like I (and everybody else) usually do on occasion of Big Floods; we make a habit of walking or pedalling to the first pier of The Bridge where there's a level post, to look at the placid river suddenly transformed into a muddy fury, exchange opinions about the height and width of inundation, get first hand recordings and the like: we are a rather small community, and one can talk quite easily, even to the army lads ;)
We are also used to cross The Bridge and check the poplar plantations there, as the river is used to eat them up and spit them into the Adriatic 400 kms downstream when he's really cross (and yes, Po is definitely male.)
Note that apparently there was no risk: we live next to the biggest river in Italy, the main embankment is part of our favourite cycling path, risky areas are monitored, streets closed as necessary, the HQ of military Engineers specialised in bridges is located *inside* the fridge, alerting procedures have been in place for decades etc.
Our Main Levee dates - at least from what I know - back to the XVIII cty, when Raffaello's "Madonna Sistina" was sold by the San Sisto (lovely church, beautiful ) friars to the Sachsen Elector (that's why it is in Dresden now) and the money used to build the embankment. In retrospective, I am thankful to the good friars, though my house has always been much better placed than S. Sisto, which is part of the medieval city walls and just in face of the river (I'm joking!!! In fact I'm rather proud of this selfless act by our monks.)
Safety measures were all in place. Men alerted, streets closed, the Engineers doing whatever military do (AFAIK they run around with Amtrucks and stopper leaks with sand-filled canva bags - hey guys, I'm still joking!), firemen pumping, city policemen scowling and barking "no trespassing!" - everything.
Teh Bridge was never at risk. Back in 1994, in 2000 and in 2002 it had been closed to traffic before the high flow, but this time the flood had already passed, yesterday evening, with no unexpected consequences.
Luckily, yet suspiciously, the collapsed part was *not* in the floodway, rather over the fringe (which is completely underwater since yesterday.) Last consolidation works have been done in July 2008 and involved exactly *that* section of the bridge.
What The Fuck has happened -- nobody knows at the moment. Probable lack of maintenance, lightheadedness, bureaucracy - usual crap (and YES I'm trying to keep anger in check - we were told that works were going on since 1995 - we signed up for a new bridge - we asked that the bridge went under the municipality ownership as it is a part of a national road now - we have been annoyed for men at work for months over the years)
The practical result is that the second-most-important connection between North and South of Italy will not be available for months, a good quarter of our industrial area is only reachable through the highway and commuters will have a hard and expensive life over the next few months (quite fitting on the eve of Labour Day). All of this on top of flood damages which were already around 70M euro.
OTOH, my cellar was NOT flooded, for once, and that's good news indeed. If a little selfish.
I'm a little shaken as I had walked under, and driven over, that same bridge from 11 to 12 a.m., just like I (and everybody else) usually do on occasion of Big Floods; we make a habit of walking or pedalling to the first pier of The Bridge where there's a level post, to look at the placid river suddenly transformed into a muddy fury, exchange opinions about the height and width of inundation, get first hand recordings and the like: we are a rather small community, and one can talk quite easily, even to the army lads ;)
We are also used to cross The Bridge and check the poplar plantations there, as the river is used to eat them up and spit them into the Adriatic 400 kms downstream when he's really cross (and yes, Po is definitely male.)
Note that apparently there was no risk: we live next to the biggest river in Italy, the main embankment is part of our favourite cycling path, risky areas are monitored, streets closed as necessary, the HQ of military Engineers specialised in bridges is located *inside* the fridge, alerting procedures have been in place for decades etc.
Our Main Levee dates - at least from what I know - back to the XVIII cty, when Raffaello's "Madonna Sistina" was sold by the San Sisto (lovely church, beautiful ) friars to the Sachsen Elector (that's why it is in Dresden now) and the money used to build the embankment. In retrospective, I am thankful to the good friars, though my house has always been much better placed than S. Sisto, which is part of the medieval city walls and just in face of the river (I'm joking!!! In fact I'm rather proud of this selfless act by our monks.)
Safety measures were all in place. Men alerted, streets closed, the Engineers doing whatever military do (AFAIK they run around with Amtrucks and stopper leaks with sand-filled canva bags - hey guys, I'm still joking!), firemen pumping, city policemen scowling and barking "no trespassing!" - everything.
Teh Bridge was never at risk. Back in 1994, in 2000 and in 2002 it had been closed to traffic before the high flow, but this time the flood had already passed, yesterday evening, with no unexpected consequences.
Luckily, yet suspiciously, the collapsed part was *not* in the floodway, rather over the fringe (which is completely underwater since yesterday.) Last consolidation works have been done in July 2008 and involved exactly *that* section of the bridge.
What The Fuck has happened -- nobody knows at the moment. Probable lack of maintenance, lightheadedness, bureaucracy - usual crap (and YES I'm trying to keep anger in check - we were told that works were going on since 1995 - we signed up for a new bridge - we asked that the bridge went under the municipality ownership as it is a part of a national road now - we have been annoyed for men at work for months over the years)
The practical result is that the second-most-important connection between North and South of Italy will not be available for months, a good quarter of our industrial area is only reachable through the highway and commuters will have a hard and expensive life over the next few months (quite fitting on the eve of Labour Day). All of this on top of flood damages which were already around 70M euro.
OTOH, my cellar was NOT flooded, for once, and that's good news indeed. If a little selfish.