Grand Prix in Italy called off amid deadly flooding
This weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix has been called off amid deadly flooding in the northeast of Italy.
It comes after Italy’s transport minister called for this Sunday’s race at Imola to be postponed to allow focus on rescue efforts in the region.
Officials say five people have died and as many as 5,000 people have been evacuated after rivers swollen by days of flooding burst their banks, flooding nearby towns and cities.
An F1 statement read: “The Formula 1 community wants to send its thoughts to the people and communities affected by the recent events in the Emilia-Romagna region.
“We also want to pay tribute to the work of the emergency services who are doing everything they can to help those in need.
“Following discussions between Formula 1, the President of the FIA, the competent authorities including the relevant ministers, the President of the Automobile Club of Italy, the President of Emilia-Romagna Region, the Mayor of the City and the promoter the decision has been taken not to proceed with the Grand Prix weekend in Imola.
“The decision has been taken because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel and it is the right and responsible thing to do given the situation faced by the towns and cities in the region.
“It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time.”
Meanwhile, officials in Venice have activated a mobile sea barrier in the lagoon, in a bid to spare the city, a popular tourist destination, from a rare May high-tide flooding.
It is the first time the barrier system, known by its acronym MOSES, has been lifted in May.
Pic: Vigili del Fuoco/AP
Pic: Vigili del Fuoco/AP
Pic: Vigili del Fuoco/AP
With rescue operations and evacuations in full swing – and with warnings of the potential of more bad weather on the way – Italy’s deputy minister has called for this weekend’s race to be postponed.
Matteo Salvini said it was “imperative to concentrate all efforts on coping with the emergency”, including avoiding a traffic overload in the area.
Italian F1 team, Scuderia Ferrari, commented on the flooding.
The team, based in Modena, a city which has also been hit by the flooding, wrote in a Tweet: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with the people of Emilia-Romagna and Marche as they deal with the destruction caused by the heavy rain and flooding currently affecting the area.”
The AlphaTauri team, which is based in nearby Faenza and is the closest team to the circuit, issued an appeal for donations to help local people Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, our town of Faenza has once again experienced significant rainfall and subsequent flooding,” the team said on Twitter.
It is the second race on the 2023 F1 calendar to be called off, after the Chinese Grand Prix, which was due to take place in April but was cancelled amid concerns about the country’s continued Covid restrictions.
Cesena, in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna region, has been one of the worst-hit areas, with pictures showing homes flooded along the banks of the River Savio.
One elderly man living in the countryside outside the city died after his home was flooded, according to local radio reports.
Cesena’s mayor Enzo Lattuca also warned of further flooding with forecasters suggesting the country’s spell of bad weather could last “until the end of May”.
“The situation could again become critical. We cannot in any way lower our guard,” he said.
Library pic of Venice’s Experimental Electromechanical Module (MOSES) water barrier. Pictured in June 2020
Read more:
Cyclone Mocha: Before-and-after images show devastation
Italian police find cocaine under banana shipment
In one rescue in the city, neighbours swam across the fast-moving waters of a flooded street to take a young girl from her mother’s arms.
One rescuer held the child above the floodwaters until she could be passed into the arms of other rescuers. Other residents helped the mother to safety.
Mayor Lattuca urged caution from residents. He told state television: “Use prudence, don’t be curious, so disaster doesn’t turn into tragedy.”
In the Pesaro-Urbino region, firefighters rescued a family with a four-month-old baby and a disabled man from flooding, while authorities in Ravenna, a popular tourist town, urged residents in low-lying areas to move to higher ground.
Firefighters rescue a person from a flooded house in Riccione.
Pic:Vigili del Fuoco/AP
Sandbags are lined up along a flooded street in Bologna, Italy,
Pic:LaPresse /AP
Pic:AP
Flooding in Cesena Pic:AP
Firefighters in Rimini, a city and province on the Adriatic coast, carried out 40 rescues, while in the nearby beach town of Riccione, residents took to the streets in rubber dinghies.
In the city of Modena, authorities closed local bridges to traffic on Tuesday evening as a precaution against rising river levels.
Italy’s civil protection minister Nello Musumeci said as many as 5,000 people had been evacuated as a result of the floods.
Northeast Italy has suffered a shortfall of rain in recent weeks. However, meteorologists have warned of several days of heavy rain still to come.
Weather experts say the rain is due to the disappearance of a weather system known as an anticyclone – a large wind system that rotates anticlockwise around a centre of high atmospheric pressure.
One meteorologist, Mattia Gussoni from the weather site Ilmeteo, said the weather pattern could persist “at least until the end of the month”.
Banned from Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia will hold a rival international song contest on Saturday, with an emphasis on “traditional values”.
Instead of camp, think conservative – patriotic pop with a PG-rating.
“Intervision” was launched under the order of Vladimir Putin, with the hope it would serve as an expression of Moscow’s international pulling power.
Intervision decorations in Red Square, Moscow, ahead of the contest
There are contestants from 23 countries, which are a mixture of Russia’s allies old and new, including Belarus, Cuba and Tajikistan as well as China, India and Saudi Arabia.
The odd one out is the United States, who’ll be represented by an artist called “Vassy”. She’s not part of an official delegation, but an American voice is still a coup for the Kremlin, which will seek to use this contest as proof of the West’s failure to isolate Russia on the global stage.
‘War whitewash’
Intervision is not entirely new. It was originally launched in the 1960s as an instrument of Soviet soft power, before largely fading from view in the 1980s.
According to Moscow, its revival has nothing to do with politics. But Ukraine has condemned it as propaganda, and an attempt to whitewash Russia’s war.
It was a point I put to some contestants after their final press conferences, but it didn’t go down well.
“We don’t think like that, we are here to spread peace,” India’s Rauhan Malik told me, when I asked if his participation was a show of support for Russia’s invasion.
Malik, one of the contestants
“Are you not turning a blind eye to Russia’s aggression?” I countered.
“I have no idea about it,” he said. “I have no idea about the current situation that’s happening. I don’t want to speak about that as well.”
Eurovision legends Abba would almost certainly not make the Russian contest guest list. Pic: AP
Really? He had no idea? But before I could go on, I felt a forceful hand on my shoulder and a minder stepped in.
The intervention was even quicker when it came to speaking to Brazil’s act. As soon as I mentioned the word Ukraine, I was drowned out by shouts of “no, no, no, no” and the duo were ushered away.
Brazilian contestants, duo Luciano Calazans and Thais Nader
Where’s the glitter?
Intervision is not just a reaction to Russia’s recent exclusion from Eurosivion, however, it’s also a reaction to the contest’s values and what it’s come to represent.
Its celebration of sexual diversity and LGBTQ+ rights are seen as a symbol of what the Kremlin calls the West’s moral decline. In contrast, Intervision organisers say their contest will promote “traditional, family values.”
Judging by the costumes on show ahead of last week’s draw, that translates to less glitter, more embroidery, with a thematic emphasis on national heritage.
Read more from Sky News:
NATO responds after Russian military jets ‘violate’ Estonian airspace
‘Gender testing rules would have earned me an Olympic medal’
Two ambulance workers arrested in connection with six deaths
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
So what do Russians think of Intervision’s resurrection? Can it replace Eurovision?
“We don’t miss Eurovision,” Galina and Tatiana say, underneath a collection of purple and pink ‘Intervision’ flags near Red Square.
“It was so horrible, especially lately. We didn’t like watching it at all.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Why are countries boycotting Eurovision?
Polina agrees, believing Russia’s version will be “more interesting”.
“Many countries that participated in Eurovision want to boycott it, so it’s interesting to see a more peaceful event now,” she says.
Igor is more circumspect. “I’d like to believe that this isn’t a political event,” he says, “but rather an event that unites nations and people.”
Intervision will succeed in uniting some nations. But at the same time, it may only deepen divisions with others – further evidence that Russia and the West are singing very different tunes.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment12 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024