Cesena was one of the hardest-hit cities, while authorities in Venice activated a mobile sea wall for the first time in May.
Due to flooding in northeast Italy, three people have perished and as many as 5,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.
Tuesday, rivers swollen by days of rainfall overflowed their banks, flooding adjacent towns and cities.
Cesena, in the center of Emilia-Romagna, was one of the worst-affected areas, as evidenced by photographs of flooded homes along the banks of the River Savio.
Local radio said that a rural old man died after his home flooded.
Nello Musumeci, Italy’s minister of civil protection, confirmed three deaths and the evacuation of approximately 5,000 people due to inundation.
In May, Venice launched a moveable sea barrier in the lagoon to prevent a rare high-tide inundation.
It is the first time in May that the barrier system known as MOSES has been withdrawn.
The mayor of Cesena, Enzo Lattuca, also warned of additional flooding, citing forecasters’ predictions that the country’s poor weather could last “until the end of May.”
“The situation could become critical once more. We cannot lower our guard in any fashion,” he said.
Cesena neighbours saved a girl from her mother by swimming across a flooded roadway.
One rescuer held the infant above the floodwaters until she could be transferred to other rescuers’ arms. Other residents assisted the mother in reaching safety.
Mayor Lattuca urged residents to exercise caution. He stated on state television, “Use caution and avoid inquisitiveness so that a disaster does not become a tragedy.”
Firefighters rescued a family with a four-month-old infant and a disabled man from flooding in the Pesaro-Urbino region, while authorities in Ravenna, a popular tourist destination, urged residents of low-lying areas to relocate to higher ground.
Firefighters in Rimini, a city and province on the Adriatic coast, performed forty rescues. While residents of Riccione, a neighboring beach town, took to the streets in rubber dinghies.
Tuesday evening, authorities in the city of Modena shut down local bridges as a precaution against rising river levels.
Northeast Italy has experienced a lack of precipitation in recent weeks. However, meteorologists have predicted several more days of intense rainfall.
According to weather specialists, the rain is caused by the dissipation of an anticyclone, a large wind system that rotates anticlockwise around a high atmospheric pressure center.
Ilmeteo meteorologist Mattia Gussoni said the weather pattern could linger “at least until the end of the month.”
