Stromboli is one of the world's most active volcanoes. Now, the Italian island is also facing mudslides and heavy rain.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Ashes and fire, that's to be expected on Stromboli, the Italian island with one of the most active
00:10volcanoes on earth.
00:16But now there's a new source of havoc.
00:19Mudslides and flooding after heavy rainfall are endangering both settlements on the island.
00:27Stromboli was love at first sight for me.
00:31It's paradise and I'm fighting to keep it that way.
00:36There is no way I'd ever leave.
00:39Domenico Taggio came here 20 years ago.
00:43But it's not clear whether he and the island's other residents can stay.
00:48Domenico's house is right next to a small stream which is usually dry.
00:54But now he's worried about his home whenever it rains.
00:57Most recently in November when a mudslide flooded his property.
01:03This used to be my garden.
01:05All the plants, the olive trees, the roses.
01:10As you can see, there's nothing left.
01:14All that work to make a beautiful garden was for nothing.
01:19In one second everything was destroyed.
01:25The stream bed, once three meters deep, is now full of debris.
01:29More rainfall poses a threat.
01:31Some villagers have already given up.
01:35A young couple used to live here.
01:37The last flood scared them so much that they moved out.
01:42The mud almost came over the wall.
01:48Stromboli has experienced several disasters in the last two years.
01:53In May 2022, almost half of the island burned up in a fire,
01:57including tree roots and plants on the slopes that protected the village from mudslides.
02:03And a powerful volcanic eruption in July 2024
02:06caused massive amounts of ash to pile up on the volcanic cone.
02:12This one was different, says Beatrice Fassi.
02:16The nature guide has studied the volcano for decades.
02:21Something has hardened the mountain surface
02:23and rainwater is now simply flowing down the slope.
02:26The ground can't absorb it anymore.
02:30Just a few days ago, she took soil samples from the volcanic cone
02:34to send to volcanologists on the mainland.
02:39This layer here is about half a centimeter thick and has solidified.
02:44When rainwater falls on this hardened layer,
02:47it can't seep into the ground and drain away.
02:50Instead, it turns into this violent torrent
02:54and rushes forcefully down to the sea through narrow stream channels.
03:00The residents already have their hands full with the lava and ash,
03:04and many of them see this latest problem as homemade.
03:07The stream channels haven't been cleaned for years.
03:11These diggers were hired to do just that.
03:14Now they've come to a standstill.
03:16There's no shortage of funding.
03:18In 2022, the government earmarked 16 million euros to protect the island.
03:23But bureaucracy is slowing things down, says Carolina Barnau,
03:27the environmental counselor for the Aeolian Islands.
03:31We're going to develop and secure all of Stromboli's 12 streams.
03:36The planning is almost complete,
03:39and a construction company will soon be commissioned to do the work.
03:43We're also going to rebuild eight roads that were destroyed by the 2022 storm.
03:53It's all taking too long for Domenico Taggio.
03:56He thinks there should be some simple rules,
03:59instead of promising money to hypothetically protect the slopes.
04:04If the administration had simply done regular maintenance work on the streams,
04:08kept the rivers clean, planted trees, and not built so much,
04:14then we probably wouldn't have this problem to begin with.
04:21For now, Domenico and his neighbors are still digging themselves out of the mud from the last storm.
04:27And every new storm brewing on the horizon could spell the next catastrophe for Stromboli.