On March 14th, heavy rains hit the Italian regions of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, causing devastating floods. Tourist resorts were left literally underwater.
In Mugello, located in Tuscany, up to 4.3 inches of rainfall fell in less than 12 hours — far exceeding March’s average monthly norm of 2.9 inches. In Florence, a full month’s worth of rain fell within just a few hours.
Several cities in Tuscany, including Florence, Pisa, Prato, and Pistoia, declared a red alert. Schools, public institutions, and even the famous Uffizi Gallery shut their doors.
Landslides cut off several small towns, leaving them isolated. Rivers burst their banks, sweeping away cars and flooding entire neighborhoods with water and mud.
Emilia-Romagna also suffered. In Bologna, authorities evacuated residents from ground floors. Meanwhile, Ferrara Province witnessed at least five tornadoes, along with hailstones measuring up to 2.8 inches in diameter.
While northern Italy battled the aftermath of floods, the country’s southern regions faced another crisis — this time from the restless Campi Flegrei supervolcano.
In the early hours of March 13th, a powerful magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck at a depth of approximately 1.6 miles. Its epicenter was located between the city of Pozzuoli and the Bagnoli district of Naples. This seismic event was the strongest ever recorded in the Campi Flegrei caldera.
The earthquake seriously frightened local residents, who were already living under constant tension due to the increasing signs of volcanic activity from Europe’s largest supervolcano.
A swarm of 44 aftershocks, with magnitudes reaching up to 1.7, followed soon after. Terrified, many residents chose to spend the rest of the night outdoors, fearing to return to their homes.
In Pozzuoli, a woman was injured when a suspended ceiling collapsed. In Bagnoli, firefighters rescued people trapped behind jammed doors, while residents on lower floors escaped through their windows. Falling debris, including parts of the bell tower of St. Anne’s Church, shattered the windshields of parked cars. In Naples, Pozzuoli, and Bacoli, authorities evacuated over 300 people.
On March 14th and 15th, new earthquakes struck — with magnitudes of 3.5 and 3.9 — further intensifying local fears.
Experts emphasize that repeated tremors, especially those above magnitude 3, put significant stress on buildings — particularly older ones — increasing the risk of collapses, falling debris on sidewalks, and, worse, structural damage.
All of this unfolded against the backdrop of accelerating ground uplift in the Campi Flegrei region. Between mid-February and mid-March, the ground rose at a rate of 1.2 inches per month, tripling the rate recorded in 2024.
The planet is undergoing increasingly severe changes. We encourage you to explore the forecasts for climatic and geodynamic processes across different countries in 2025, outlined in the report "A Brief Analysis of the Climate Situation".