Between 2023 and 2024, 32 floods were recorded in 17 different European countries. An international data-driven investigation collected data on their effects: flooded territory, affected infrastructure, and compromised buildings. In Italy, the most affected region was Emilia-Romagna, and Faenza was the city that saw the water return three times, with emotional effects that risk being overshadowed.
The data are essential because they allow us to highlight the impacts and estimate the damage. This is what territorial administrators also look at to understand the direction in which to work to restore the territory. However, the data do not tell everything. The floods have left deep marks not only on the territory but also on people. In addition to material damage, the psychological and emotional consequences have been significant. The testimonies we collected in the Romagna city speak of distrust towards the future, a perception of distance from institutions, and anger that has affected daily life, which is often divided into before and after the water.
Emergency psychology emphasizes how dramatic and catastrophic events like floods can alter people's principles and values, leading to social isolation and a breakdown of the community fabric, with effects that are less visible but persist over time long after interventions on material damage. Our investigation shows that the story of floods like those in Faenza is more complex than what is reported by legacy media, whose interest in these territories fades too quickly.
In collaboration with European Data Journalism Network
Credits
The investigative project Flooded was launched by the Mediterranean Institute for Investigative Reporting (MIIR), a Greek non profit organization devoted to in-depth journalism, in the framework of the European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet). MIIR provided the final data collection and their analysis while several EDJNet partners contributed with local data and information from different European countries (Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania, Slovenia).
