October 25th 2011 early afternoon:
a so called “Water-bomb” hit the costal line and of the eastern Liguria between La Spezia and Sestri Levante and inland. 3 hours of rain shoot to the ground between 300 and 500 mm’s of water: the average amount of rainfall for an entire year, something that has never been seen before.
The effects were devastating: streams, ditches and small waterways grew enormously wide and fast. The whole “Vara Valley” inland was a gigantic river out of control and once merged into the Magra River, the flood reached its maximum extension.
On the coast, the steep terraces of the cinque terre hills above vernazza and monterosso swelled up in few minutes bringing down trees, stones, landslides, mud, cars… everything became part of this huge stream crashing down into the bottom of the mountain, into the hearts of our towns… that is what has happened::
There were a total of 12 casualties, (1 in monterosso, 3 in vernazza -these 3 found in france, on the cote d’azur one week later-). everyone looking at these videos is wondering how it’s possible that so few peopled died since there it was as if there were a “hell” of water; thankfully, the number of victims has been relatively “low”.
The towns of Manarola, Riomaggiore and Corniglia sustained none or just minimal damages, we were spared from this bomb of water…and that’s why we want to bring to our brothers our maximum efforts giving aid, digging out mud, organizing and collecting funds. We’re asking for your help to bring back Vernazza and Monterosso to their original beauty…back to october 24th 2011.
To see Vernazza again as it once was we need at least 2 things:
- we needthat YOU spread the word: The Cinque Terre are still here, AND WE NEED TOURISTS TO KEEP COMING! we need tourists NOW more than ever; our economy must survive, that’s the only way to help our wounded towns.
Riomaggiore, Manarola and Corniglia are beautiful as always, untouched by this tragic event, ready to host all the people who love the 5 Terre.
Tell your friends, share it on your FACEBOOK profile, tweet this on TWITTER - we ask for YOUR donation because lots of people have lost everything: houses, small businesses, cars, furnitures, clothes…we need a HUGE amount of money to recover and your help is very IMPORTANT in all these matters.
Other pages on the web to donate for the flood in Liguria and Tuscany:
