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Italian Drought Helped By Heavy Rains
Rain has finally arrived in northern Italy providing a little relief in an early season drought. The drought has caused the average water level of the PO River (Italy's longest river) to drop 25 feet. The PO flows across northern Italy and is crucial to area farms. The river has been affected by drought several times over the past few years but never this early in the season.
The Italian government on Friday announced emergency action despite rain across the affected central and northern regions. Experts warned that despite Thursday's torrential rain which is forecast to continue for the next sevearl days, the Po was still much too low for this time of the year.
The central and northern areas of Italy have had 20-50% less rain this year than last year. The government action was needed to avert damage to agriculture and to prevent power outages.
Experts said it was essential to keep the Po's water level as high as possible even "opening the taps" and letting water flow from mountain lakes into the river.
The Po is the country's longest and most used river. The river cuts across the north from west to east, feeding irrigation channels and industries on the fertile Po plain. It is also a major shipping route.
Thursday's downpours caused the river to rise by about 5 feet in 24 hours - but farmers said it was a "temporary respite". It is not only the rivers that are below normal. Lake Garda, a popular vacation spot, is close to 20 inches below normal. Lake Garda is located in the north and is the largest lake in Italy.
This past winter was Italy's mildest on record. Forecasters are calling for a dry summer with temperatures one degree higher than the average for the past five years.
Power outages could occur unless the government takes preventative action. During a drought rivers and lakes would feed less water than usual to power stations that are already operating at above average levels because of the extra demand from air conditioners and refrigerators.
The Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna regions as well as Lombardy and Venice are also suffering from drought conditions.
Posted by Jackie on May 5, 2007
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