What Sicily is experiencing is an unprecedented scenario in many aspects, not only because of the torrid heat and the fires that ravage various areas of the island but also because of the continuous power outages and severely deprived conditions in several cities (or parts of metropolitan areas) without water.
In 2021, the heat record in Europe was recorded in Sicily, in Floridia (in the Syracuse area), 48.8 degrees. Temperatures now reach 47 degrees in some areas of Etna and the Syracuse area, but The current difficulties are greater than in the recent past.. The hot African wind blows and inverts an island already on its last legs for consecutive weeks with high and rising temperatures, in which many cities are in a frenzy due to continuous and even prolonged power blackouts. Houses without air conditioning working due to lack of electricity become ovens.
Besides in several cities there is no water. A situation of deep malaise lives in Catania. There are many areas of the city at the same time. without light and without water. Citizens denounce that there is a large area of the metropolis that has It already accumulates 60 hours without electricity and without water. A similar situation has never happened in the last decades in the Etna metropolis. In a popular area of Catania some citizens took to the streets in desperate protest, and the police had to intervene to calm souls.
What happened? All the production plants of Cider (a 100% municipal company that manages the water network in the capital of Etna and in some towns in the interior) and other suppliers have been closed for several hours due to the interruption of the electricity supply. “The city of Catania – informs Sidra – right now it is substantially almost entirely without water. As communicated by Production Area recovery times cannot be predicted of the water service since the latter depend on the recovery times of the electricity service by E-Distribuzione. The regional civil protection, at the request of the director of the department, Salvo Cocina, is monitoring the situation regarding the power outage in the Catania area.”
“All the mayors have been contacted – says Civil Protection – to verify and report critical problems related to socio-sanitary structures, drinking water wells, families with the elderly and children without water or electricity, in primis. Both the company Acoset and Sidra had declared problems with the water supply in the area in recent days.
Difficult situation also announcement Acirealea town on Etna with 50,000 inhabitants, the situation is difficult due to the long blackouts and the lack of water. Today there was a long blackout even in the populous municipality of Paternal, at the foot of Etna. In Catania and Acireale, where the municipal operational centers have been established, voluntary organizations have been created to help the population and are operational with the availability of transport and rescue.
The head of the Civil Protection of Sicily in consideration of the heat waves that are affecting the entire region and the power cuts has issued some guidelines requesting, among other things, the mayors of the most affected municipalities, especially those with power cuts, to activate the municipal operational centers and their components to provide assistance to the population in need and due to cuts in the water network, and to inform the regional civil protection operations room of the activation of the COC, of the measures adopted and of any situation that generates problems.
In Catania and eastern Sicily the inconvenience caused by the closure and the slow reopening of the Catania airport also weigh heavily, which also have repercussions at the tourist and economic level. According to the president of Assoesercenti Sicilia Salvo Politino “a loss of around 40 million euros per day is estimated for companies”.
The situation is so difficult that the minister Adolfo Urso defined the situation as intolerable, “it is already clear that there has been lack of planning and lack of control of infrastructure programs announced and never implemented. The damage to the productive system of Catania and to the system of eastern Sicily is serious.”
Very problematic situation also a Syracuse and in the Ragusa area. In a central area of Syracuse there was a prolonged blackout. In the tourist city yesterday the mercury exceeded 46 degrees and today it exceeded 40 degrees, and there is thousands of families without electricity. Complaints and protests from citizens are inevitable. Several areas of the Ragusa area are affected by fires. In Vittoria, in the southeast of the island (home to the largest fruit and vegetable market in the south), a city of 80,000 inhabitants, flames threatened the hospital, smoke invaded the area in front. Dramatic situation in Nisseno LThe fire emergency in Sicily has a very problematic new center in the center of the island.
The fires are hitting some areas of Nisseno very hard, houses destroyed, fields in smoke, reeds devastated in the Soprana Lake nature reserve. The greatest damage is in Serradifalco, where the Soprana Lake oriented reserve is located. The fire that caused very serious damage to the reserve has spread to the surroundings, destroying fields and houses. There is dead animals, very serious damage to plants, displaced people. The fires also affect Caltanissetta, a large fire that spread to a suburban area caused considerable damage and six families were displaced. Fires and damages also in other provinces of the island from Palermo (several and prolonged blackouts in the Sicilian capital), to Trapani, from Messina to Ennese. And the scorching heat is increasing.
The Minister of Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci, has called a summit to deal with the emergency in Catania for tomorrow morning about the lack of drinking water. The meeting will take place in the prefecture at 9:30 a.m. and will be attended by the head of the national department of civil protection, in addition to the prefect Librizzi and the mayor Enrico Trantino Fabrizio Curcio, the regional Salvo Cocina, the military chiefs, the representatives of Enel Distribuzione and Sidra. “The problem must be solved as soon as possible, which complicates the already difficult situation due to the high temperatures that ravage the city with more than 45 degrees: we will see what can be done. I decided to immediately accept the appeal sent to me by the mayor, in agreement with the prefect and the Region»said Minister Musumeci.
