Eight people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes after heavy rains caused devastation across Italy’s northern Emilia Romagna region, while this weekend’s Imola Grand Prix was cancelled, officials said yesterday.
“The city is on its knees, devastated and in pain,” said Gian Luca Zattini, the mayor of Forli, a city near Bologna where three people were confirmed dead earlier yesterday. “It’s the end of the world.”
Emilia Romagna’s vice president, Irene Priolo, later said that a total of eight people had died, with several others missing. Two of the bodies in Forli were recovered by divers on Wednesday morning, as part of a huge rescue effort involving emergency services and the armed forces.
Emilia Romagna, one of Italy’s richest regions, had already been hit by heavy rain just…