The tragedy averted this morning in Vomero, with the sinkhole that opened on Morghen street, has had logical consequences on life in the neighborhood and the entire municipality. In addition to the road closure, cordoned off after the arrival of law enforcement and firefighters, the water supply has been shut off throughout the area. As a result of the measure taken, the closure of three schools located near the collapse has been decided.
The gates of the Sannazaro high school and the Viale Delle Acacie middle school, both located on Giacomo Puccini street, and the Caccavello primary school on Annibale Caccavello street, will remain closed for the day. The water supply was interrupted from Vanvitelli square to San Martino.
Another closure, however, concerns the Municipality headquarters on Morghen street. The announcement was made by the Municipality President Clementina Cozzolino who announced the office closure until the water supply is restored at the headquarters. According to initial reconstructions, the collapse was caused by the collapse of the sewer, which consequently led to the opening of the sinkhole. Only minor injuries for the people inside the cars who managed to leave the cabins on their own.
'We have a sewer system that has not been maintained for many years. So these events that happen are also the consequence of this,' said the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, commenting on what happened. The mayor also announced that the management of the sewer service has been entrusted to Abc, which manages the water service and 'we are implementing a project of continuous monitoring of the sewer and water network and this will allow us to carry out preventive maintenance.'
'In recent decades there has been a lack of maintenance especially on sewers, perhaps it was not done because it does not bring political advantages, but certainly the sewer state is very deteriorated. With the funds from the Pnrr, all the meters are also being changed, which report all consumption anomalies, from which possible leaks can be traced. With these resources we have also started a network monitoring,' said the Infrastructure Councilor of the Municipality of Naples, Edoardo Cosenza, talking about the sinkhole that opened up in the early morning on Morghen street, Vomero district. Cosenza explained that 'we are still in the phase where the evaluations are up to the firefighters. Since 5 in the morning, Abc staff and two expert technicians from the municipal civil protection are on site, but we wait for the firefighters to finish their operations to carry out inspections for the aqueduct and for the sewer part and understand the size of the problem. Two condominiums were evacuated following the passage of water - he concluded - but it is necessary to understand if there are permanent damages or only due to the passage of water.'
An additional comment comes instead from the Order of Geologists of Campania that continues to push institutions to greater control. 'The sinkhole on Morghen street, in the Vomero district of Naples, is just the latest episode in a long series that highlights a hydrogeological instability present in the territory. Fortunately there were no victims, but it is not possible in 2024 to rely on chance. We have long been urging institutions as the Order of Geologists of Campania to launch accurate monitoring, starting from the most at-risk neighborhoods, and to activate a soil defense planning,' said the president Egidio Grasso and the councilor Lucio Amato, who went to the scene of the accident this morning.
'As geologists we know well the fragility and the pitfalls of the Neapolitan territory, to which to add an old water network that increases the possibility of further similar episodes to today's one that can endanger residents. As simple citizens we notice, like everyone else, the road subsidence that is the first signal of something wrong underground. Therefore, it is necessary to start identifying the underground cavities present, map them, and plan a monitoring that with simple portable instruments can identify leaks from the water network, and then plan maintenance strategies of the existing water and sewer network, before degradation and neglect can further create expensive damages and loss of human lives,' they concluded.
'In recent decades there has been a lack of maintenance especially on sewers, perhaps it was not done because it does not bring political advantages, but certainly the sewer state is very deteriorated. With the funds from the Pnrr, all the meters are also being changed, which report all consumption anomalies, from which possible leaks can be traced. With these resources we have also started a network monitoring,' said the Infrastructure Councilor of the Municipality of Naples, Edoardo Cosenza. 'We are still in the phase where the evaluations are up to the firefighters. Since 5 in the morning, Abc staff and two expert technicians from the municipal civil protection are on site, but we wait for the firefighters to finish their operations to carry out inspections for the aqueduct and for the sewer part and understand the size of the problem. Two condominiums were evacuated following the passage of water - he concluded - but it is necessary to understand if there are permanent damages or only due to the passage of water,' explained the councilor.