Photos Show What Locals Are Coming Home To After Italy's Floods

P​hotos show what residents in Italy's Emilia Romagna region are coming home to after major flooding struck the area earlier this month. Car interiors remain swamped with floodwater and roads are littered with muddy materials gutted from damaged homes.

The floods left 17 dead and rendered thousands homeless after their homes had been destroyed, according to the New York Times.

More than half the area's annual rainfall deluged the region in just 36 hours, causing rivers and canals to burst their banks. The area continued to receive rain for weeks — nearly 20 inches fell in 15 days. The flood was exacerbated by a monthslong drought in the area, which made it difficult for the parched land to soak up the excessive rainfall.

A​fter the floodwaters receded, volunteers and rescue workers flocked to Emilia Romagna to aid in cleanup, which is still ongoing.

The country's civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, told an Italian newspaper, "[it] is not whether a disastrous event" like the deadly flooding that impacted Emilia Romagna will happen again, “but when and where it will occur.” The region was identified as one of the most at-risk regions in Italy for flooding by the Superior Institute for Environmental Protection and Research.

C​lick through the photos above to see images of the cleanup in northern Italy.

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