Natural Disasters 2024: ‘Worst Drought In Sicily’s Modern History’: State Of Emergency Declared As Drought Reaches Crisis Levels.
Severe lack of rain and poor maintenance of irrigation facilities have led to water rationing affecting more than 800,000 citizens.
Sicily has declared a state of emergency as the region experiences its worst drought in almost 20 years.
A lack of winter rainfall after last year’s hot summer has left supplies running low. Experts say it could be the third most serious water crisis ever recorded on the island.
Reservoirs are drying up, water is being rationed and farmers are reporting failed crops.
It comes as severe drought hits countries across the western Mediterranean including parts of Spain and other regions of Italy. In early February, President of Sicily Renato Schifani declared the drought a natural disaster.
“Sicily is the only region in Italy and among the few in Europe in a red zone due to a shortage of water resources. Morocco and Algeria are in the same situation,” the regional government said in a statement.
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Water rationed in 93 municipalities in Sicily
For local authorities, the situation is serious. Without timely intervention, there is a real risk that in a few weeks citizens will be without water.
“Around 10 to 15 per cent of water is already rationed in 55 municipalities,” Massimo Burruano, Operations Director at water management company Siciliacque, told Euronews.
“However, as of Monday 4 March, water rationing will be implemented in more than 93 municipalities, affecting 850,000 residents. In some cases, rationing could reach 45 per cent.”
Farmers struggle as dry weather leads to failed crops
Farmers are particularly struggling with the dry spell, having already been impacted by severe weather in 2023.
The effects of the drought on the agricultural sector are serious, with the lack of rain impacting the Italian island’s production of citrus fruits, olives and wheat.
In response, Schifani’s government has appointed Dario Cartabellotta, general manager of the Agriculture Department, as commissioner.
Cartabellota’s mandate will be to streamline procedures to respond to the drought, support the cost of transporting livestock, oversee the exemption of rent payments for public grazing areas and the disbursement of an initial €5 million contribution to farms for the purchase of fodder and water supply.
Water levels are low in Sicily’s lakes
The state of emergency is just the tip of the iceberg – the situation has been in freefall for several years now.
Sicily has experienced eight months of “almost total aridity”, according to the Associazione Nazionale Bonifiche Irrigazioni (‘ANBI’ – loosely translated as the National Irrigation Reclamation Association). The second half of 2023 was the driest in more than 100 years with recent rainfall having little to no impact on the situation.
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For the first time, the compulsory rationing of drinking water will affect almost the entire region of Sicily and not just a few cities. Due to low rainfall, the water level in Lake Rosamarina, just outside Palermo, has dropped dramatically.
But the crisis is not just down to climate change.
“The water management consortia in Sicily, the only organisations responsible for managing water for irrigation purposes, have been in commission for over thirty years,” Massimo Gargano, director general of ANBI told Euronews.
“For three decades, the region has lacked an adequate management structure, with no new projects, and maintenance has not been carried out adequately.”
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In His Service,
Night Watchman
Paul Rolland
Night Watchman Ministries
Make Your (7) Decision for Christ NOW!!!!!!! Time is Up!!!!!!!
Jesus Christ’s Offer of Salvation:
The ABCs (7) of Salvation through Jesus Christ (the Lamb)
- (7) Admit/Acknowledge/Accept that you are sinner. Ask (7) God’s forgiveness and repent of your sins.
. . . “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
. . . “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
B. Believe Jesus is Lord. Believe that (7) Jesus Christ is who He claimed to (7) be; that He was both fully God (7) and fully man and that we are (7) saved through His death, burial, and resurrection. (7) Put your trust in Him as your (7) only hope of salvation. Become a son (7) or daughter of God by receiving Christ. (7777777) 7×7
. . . “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:15-17). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
C. Call upon His name, Confess (7) with your heart and with your lips (7) that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
. . . “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (John 1:8-10).
. . . “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (John 2:2).
. . . “In this was manifested the love of god toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:9, 14-15).
. . . “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10).
. . . “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
. . . “Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).
. . . “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” (Romans 1:16).
. . . “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts: 4:12).
. . . “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).
. . . “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
. . . “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12).
True Church / Bride of Christ Spared from God’s Wrath:
Romans 5:8-10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Romans 12:19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 1:10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Jeremiah 30:7. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.