ROME, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Italian government declared the state of emergency in 11 regions on Thursday evening, after stormy weather killed over a dozen people and caused damages worth billions of euros in latest weeks.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's cabinet gathered to specifically address the emergency created by the bad weather, planning to allocate 253 million euros (288.4 million U.S. dollars) overall for urgent measures.
Some 53.5 million euros were immediately made available, and would be devoted to restore road access and complete first intervention actions, the cabinet said.
"In the next days, another 200 million euros will be added, and allocated to further first emergency intervention, pending a conclusive estimate of damages," it added.
Eleven out of 12 Italian regions had filed the request of a state of emergency to the Civil Protection Agency earlier this week. These included Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and Liguria in the north, and southern Sicily, all among the most heavily hit by rains, winds, and floods.
Besides the funds allocation, the state of emergency approved by the cabinet would allow national and local authorities to simplify bureaucratic procedures and speed up the intervention.
Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli had paid a visit to the affected areas in northern Italy on Monday and Tuesday, after going to the southern regions last week, in order to assess the different conditions with local authorities and communities.
"I believe total damages will exceed 3 billion euros overall," Toninelli said in an official statement after the visit.
The primary goal in this first phase of intervention would be to "bring all exceptional situations back to normal as soon as possible", the minister added.
The stormy weather struck Italy since late October, killing at least 20 people overall.
Eight people lost their lives between Oct. 28 and Oct. 30 across the country, while further 12 casualties were registered between Saturday and Sunday in Sicily, including nine members of two families with children who were killed when a river burst its banks and flooded their house.
The Civil Protection said some 1,500 officers were deployed in the affected areas across the country during the emergency.
Still on Thursday, an orange weather alert -- indicating a state of pre-alarm -- was in place in central Emilia Romagna region, due to the risk of flooding from the major Po river, the agency said.
