Their personal belongings are still there, hastily left behind when they decided to leave. They carried only the bare essentials: a toothbrush, their documents, a few changes of clothes for a few days, and the hope of finding someone willing to take them in. This is the story of a family living in the industrial area of Villasimius who, after the bad weather of the past few days, cannot return to their home today. Since Thursday, they have been without electricity, and therefore without hot water and essential services.
Some eucalyptus trees fell onto power lines, leaving mom, dad, and kids in the dark. "But we're not alone," the resident says. " At least thirty other people, including small children, are in the same situation ." The problem, he explains, "in our case stems from an intervention carried out in recent months: after a blackout in December , a cable was supposedly "temporarily" attached to the trees, with the intention of keeping it that way for a day or two. Instead, everything remained as it was. With the strong winds, the eucalyptus trees collapsed, dragging everything down with them." The darkness wasn't the only difficulty. "The trunks, blown onto the street by the strong winds, blocked the entrance. After a day cooped up in the house, we were only able to get out by crawling through the branches, at our own risk." The intervention of the Civil Protection then allowed us to partially clear the access and recover the cars and some personal belongings.
But the situation remains critical: "We're still without power, and several trunks are still there." " Here, we're talking about wind-related problems up to a certain point," he adds, "because the real issue is the maintenance that hasn't been done ." In the case, he denounces, there's "a buck-passing between the Municipality and Enel: on one side, there's talk of a lack of personnel to manage the emergency, on the other, there's the argument that responsibility for the temporary cables lies with the grid operator."
Another family, who managed to find a makeshift solution, is also waiting for answers: " We only have the help of a small generator that's costing us tens of euros a day. The situation is becoming unbearable. How is it possible that there are no emergency generators? Some people here don't even know how to heat themselves ." Meanwhile, residents are still waiting: "We don't care who's responsible: we just want someone to intervene to remove the tree trunks and fix the electricity service, because everyone's safety is at stake."