Civil protection chief blames flood deaths on poor planning

(ANSA) – Rome, November 27 – Civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli on Wednesday told a Lower House hearing that the extreme weather alert system worked, but people died anyway due to poor planning.

Gabrielli was summoned to answer for the emergency response in the wake of Cyclone Cleopatra, which tore through the Italian island of Sardinia on the evening of November 18, sweeping cars away, causing bridges to collapse, and killing over a dozen people. The alert system “worked, but there was a planning deficit”, Gabrielli told MPs. “The system only makes sense if followed up by a planned response and citizens being given correct information”.

His department had issued a bulletin on Sardinia, which forecast damages and possible victims, he added.