The Piedmont flood

On the night of November 5-6, 1994, a terrible flood struck the provinces of Cuneo, Asti, and Alessandria along the Tanaro River and the Vercelli area along the Po River. Extensive flooding and more than a thousand landslides caused 68 deaths and dozens of injuries, and about 5,500 people were evacuated.

This event is considered one of the most severe in Piedmont due to the extensive geo-hydrological processes that occurred. The widespread damage affected almost five hundred municipalities, particularly in the Tanaro Valley, Alba, Asti, and Alessandria. In some towns in southern Piedmont, the damage was so severe that they were isolated for days.

This emergency marked the first major incident involving the National Service, which was created two years earlier to strengthen risk forecasting and prevention efforts. A decade later, the civil protection system benefited from a network of Functional Centres, which enabled forecasting, monitoring, and surveillance of weather phenomena and assessment of their impact on the territory.

Photo: Teams at work following the November 1994 flood in Piedmont / Carabinieri