From Cyclone Harry to Erminio, devastated Italy is chasing “emergencies”: but when will we start tackling the real causes?

There was a time when words like “cyclone” and “tornado” evoked scenarios far from us, such as the American coasts and South-East Asian countries. Certainly not Italy. Certainly not Abruzzo, Molise or Sicily. That time is over and has been for quite some time now, even if many newspapers continue to belittle the scenario by simply talking about “bad weather”. Cyclone Erminio, which is currently violently hitting parts of Central and Southern Italy, forces us to face a harsh reality: the climate crisis is turning our daily lives upside down.

Evacuations, flooding and isolated municipalities between Abruzzo and Molise

Torrential rain, furious winds over 120 km/h, heavy snowfall at low altitudes in the middle of spring, rivers overflowing and entire territories isolated. From lower Molise to the internal areas of Abruzzo, from the Adriatic coast to the Apulian countryside, up to the south of Lazio: it is one long wound. The collapse of the bridge over the Trigno, on the border between Abruzzo and Molise, is the symbolic image of these last hours. A monitored infrastructure, closed as a precaution, yet unable to withstand three days of incessant rain. And today that bridge lays bare the structural fragility of a country that continues to chase emergencies instead of preventing them.

In the Foggia area the Cervaro overflows, in Molise the Biferno reaches critical levels, in the Marche landslides isolate entire hamlets, while in Capracotta the snow exceeds one and a half metres. In Termoli and along the entire Molise coast, water invaded homes and neighborhoods, forcing dozens of families to leave everything. Inflatable boats, amphibious vehicles, continuous rescue. And then there is the Adriatic railway line, transformed into a wall of water after the Osento flooded. A situation that has literally divided Italy in two, also creating great inconvenience for many travelers who wanted to return home for the Easter holidays.

Do we still want to talk about meteorological variability? This is climate instability.

When the exception becomes the rule

The images of Cyclone Harry, which devastated hundreds of kilometers of the coasts of Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia last January, are still etched in our memories. And those who live in seaside municipalities can see with their own eyes the destruction along the streets and coastlines, which appear to have been hit by bombing.

And just a couple of months later, another cyclone – this time Erminio – is sowing chaos and fear. And it is the third cyclone to hit Italy in the space of just a month.

Erminio and Harry are not an anomaly. They are tangible proof that these violent events are becoming the norm, even in the Mediterranean. Hydrogeological instability, reported for years and never addressed in a structural way, is today intertwined with an unstable climate that amplifies every fragility. Bridges, roads, railways, population centers: everything that was designed for a type of climate that no longer exists, today finds itself exposed to new, more intense, more frequent stresses.

And so states of calamity are declared, the damage is counted, extraordinary interventions are promised. Then we start again from the beginning. Until the next cyclone, the next river that floods, the next bridge that gives way and the next flood. How much longer can we go on like this?

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