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Nine dead in northern Italy floods, Formula One race called off

ROME (Reuters)- Nine people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes as torrential rain battered Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region, triggering floods and landslides, officials said on Wednesday.

Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks, sending water cascading through towns and submerging thousands of acres of farmland.

The dire situation prompted the cancellation of Sunday’s Formula One Grand Prix in Imola, a decision made to alleviate the strain on emergency services

Sunday’s Formula One Grand Prix in Imola, which is close to many of the worst-hit areas, was called off in an effort to relieve pressure on emergency services and prevent motor racing fans from converging on the inundated region.

Stefano Bonaccini, the president of the Emilia-Romagna region, addressed the press, describing the unfolding events as unprecedented catastrophes.

He emphasised that the region received an astonishing amount of rain that the already waterlogged land could no longer absorb. “We need to ensure safety and not create extra burden for the authorities while they deal with this very awful situation,” he said.

“We are facing catastrophic events that have probably not been seen before,” the president of the Emilia-Romagna region Stefano Bonaccini told reporters. “Extraordinary amounts of rain have fallen on land no longer capable of absorbing them.”

The Adriatic coastal city of Ravenna, famed for its early Christian heritage sites, was badly affected. The local interior ministry representative said some 14,000 people would have to be evacuated from the area as soon as possible.

Authorities said flooding had hit 37 towns and communities and around 120 landslides had been registered. At least one bridge, near the city of Bologna, collapsed, some roads were undermined by floodwaters and many rail services were suspended.

READ MORE : Migrant boat breaks apart off Italy; 45 dead, 80 survive

Nine bodies had been retrieved from various locations, Bonaccini said. Irene Priolo, vice president of the region, told reporters that although the rains were easing, river levels were still rising.

Civil Protection Minister Musumeci said he would ask the cabinet to find 20 million euros ($22 million) for the affected area when it meets on May 23 to consider relief measures.

Government officials said tax and mortgage payments would be suspended for flood-hit regions during the emergency.

FLOODS FOLLOW MONTHS OF DROUGHT

It was the second time this month that Emilia-Romagna has been battered by bad weather, with at least two people dying during storms at the beginning of May.

The torrential rain months of drought which had dried out the land, reducing its capacity to absorb water and worsening the impact of the floods, meteorologists said.

Muddy waters flowed through the historic centres of Faenza, Cesena and Forli, washing over the roofs of parked cars, submerging some stores and forcing locals to flee to the top stories of their homes.

Drone footage from the Imola race circuit showed part of the paddock area under water. Organisers said the decision to call off the Grand Prix had been taken “because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel”.

“It’s probably been the worst night in the history of Romagna,” Ravenna Mayor Michele de Pascale told RAI public radio, saying 5,000 people were evacuated from his city on Tuesday night.

“Ravenna is unrecognisable after the damage it has suffered.”

Minister Musumeci said between 200mm to 500mm of rain fell in some parts of the region in 1-1/2 days, compared with average annual rainfall of 1,000 mm.

By Claudia Greco and Crispian Balmer

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

Biden off to Japan for Group of Seven summit : G7 Summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said there’s “work to do” on the global stage as he headed to Japan on Wednesday to consult with allies on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s assertiveness in the Pacific at the same time that a debt limit standoff looms at home.

With high-stakes talks to head off a federal default are underway in Washington, Biden pledged to remain in “constant contact” with negotiators in the Capitol while he conducts international diplomacy.

The president departed Washington aboard Air Force One a day after scrapping plans for a historic stop in Papua New Guinea and a key visit to Australia amid the showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt limit. The three-nation trip had been meant as a triumphant global leadership showcase, and instead threatened to become a truncated reminder of how partisan disagreements have undercut U.S. standing on the global stage.

READ MORE : Biden to leave for Hiroshima for G-7 summit on May 17 as planned

“I’ve cut my trip short in order to be here for the final negotiations and sign the deal with the majority leader,” Biden said in remarks before departing the White House. “I’ve made clear America is not a deadbeat nation, we pay our bills.”

For Biden, the intertwined dynamics of the debt standoff and his foray abroad put a spotlight on two key aspects of his presidency — his efforts to assert U.S. prowess on the international stage and to address economic concerns at home. They also are playing out as Biden is in the early weeks of his candidacy for reelection, adding political overtones to the situation.

The president was still set to attend the annual Group of Seven summit of advanced democracies in Hiroshima, where sustaining support for Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive against Russia is set to take center stage, alongside economic, climate and global development issues. More than a year after Moscow’s invasion, Biden and allies have armed Kyiv with ever-more-advanced weaponry and maintained deep sanctions on Russia’s economy, though maintaining resolve has grown more challenging in Washington and other global capitals.

While in Hiroshima, Biden also plans to sit down with the so-called Quad leaders of Japan, Australia and India, a partnership meant to serve as a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, a region that he bills as a top priority in U.S. national security strategy. That meeting had originally been scheduled to occur next week on what would have been his inaugural visit to Canberra and Sydney as president.

Off the agenda entirely is a stop in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where Pacific Island leaders were to gather for a first-of-its-kind meeting with a U.S. president. It was meant to be a rejoinder to China’s increasing military and economic pressures in the region. The U.S. has recently opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga and has expressed a desire to reverse a decades-long pullback in the region.

No U.S. president has ever visited the island nation, and high hopes for the visit were dashed by Biden’s announcement that he wouldn’t make the stop.

When asked whether he thought his shortened trip was a win for China, he said: “No. “Because we still work with allies,” he said.

During a roughly hour-long meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy designated chief negotiators to try to draft an agreement to allow more government borrowing in conjunction with GOP-demanded spending cuts. The Treasury Department has warned that action is likely needed by June 1 to assure the U.S. can continue to meet its financial obligations.

U.S. officials have warned in increasingly urgent tones that a default would not only spark a deep recession, but also weaken its standing on the world stage.

“Countries like Russia and China that would love nothing more than for us to default so they could point the finger and say, ‘You see, the United States is not a stable, reliable partner,’” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday. “So, that is a high priority, as it should be, for the president.”

For weeks, White House officials have said Biden could manage both the Capitol Hill negotiations and foreign commitments while on the trip. But in recent days aides have fretted as McCarthy has repeatedly called for Biden to scrap his trip, worried that while abroad, the president would appear to the public as disengaged from the swelling crisis.

“It would underscore for partners that despite welcome U.S. focus on the region and the focus on allies and partners at the heart of U.S. foreign policy, domestic politics is still a constraint on U.S. engagement and perhaps on budgetary commitments as well,” he said last week. “And I think that’s something that will be talked about widely.”

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By ZEKE MILLER and JOSH BOAK and Boak reported from Hiroshima, Japan.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the AP NEWS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.