Italy Confronts Twin Climate Crises: Floods in the North, Drought in the South

Italy is facing sharply contrasting climate threats, with torrential rains and flooding battering the north while the south endures extreme heat, drought and water shortages. The diverging disasters have intensified calls for the country to develop stronger adaptation strategies.

On August 20, heavy rains caused a bridge to collapse in the Lombardy town of Sonico, a few miles from the Swiss border. The storm triggered the worst landslide in the valley town's memory. A similar rockfall struck in 2012, but this summer's was far larger, carrying roughly a million cubic meters of debris, according to Pietro Gulberti, president of Civil Protection Sonico.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated and a major state road was closed. No injuries were reported, but Civil Protection teams are still working to secure the area, and rebuilding the bridge could take years.

Resident Paola Madeo described the terror of the event, saying the whole house was trembling. Her husband, Mario, noted the delicate balance between rain that crops need and the danger of flooding. "Water is needed but not to the point that it creates disaster," he said.

Italy's state road operator ANAS says climate change is creating new risks for infrastructure, stressing the need for closer monitoring and more frequent checks of vulnerable structures such as bridges ahead of forecast events.

"We're seeing rainfall that is increasingly concentrated, huge amounts of water that fall in a short period of time with little warning, putting a lot of pressure on the slopes, creeks and road infrastructure," said Pino Bellusci of ANAS Lombardy.

While the north continues to be hit by storms and torrential rain, central and southern Italy face the opposite problem. Rivers are running dry and crops are struggling to survive. Together, the contrasting crises paint a picture of a country divided in two, confronting very different but equally pressing climate challenges.