A sound like rustling, a strong smell of gas. Traffic in the entire area around the station has been completely blocked. This is what the situation looks like after the gas leak that has been occurring this afternoon since 2 p.m. in Ottavia, northwest of Rome, near the station on the Rome-Viterbo line. While operations to secure the area are still underway, about ten people living in nearby buildings were quickly evacuated and left everything at home, sometimes even their pets. “I live in this red building, they told me to leave the house because it could be dangerous to stay inside. I have been away from home for hours, I am worried because I don’t know when I will be able to go home,” says Oriana, 66. “I didn’t even have time to get anything, I left four cats inside the house and I’m worried about the gas leak,” says Elisabetta, another resident. But the inconvenience affects all the buildings in which the electricity has been cut off as a precaution. While there are many residents in the street looking for information, a desperate fifty-year-old asks when the electricity will be restored: “I’m worried about my mother-in-law who has artificial oxygen and food, everything runs on electricity. and now she’s in danger.
Firefighters, police and traffic police immediately rushed to the scene. RFI agents were also present and cut off the power supply to the station. But even in homes, shops and offices in the rest of the neighbourhood, people were left without electricity. According to rumours circulating among the displaced people gathered at the neighbourhood parish rectory, the gas leak should be resolved within a few hours but the repair of the damaged pipeline could take two or three days. “From what people have told me, it could take up to two or three days to get back to normal.” “I don’t know how to do it, you have to do all 730,” explains a woman who has worked for ten years in a local café. “A friend of mine – she adds – took the last train that passed through Ottavia station and travelled with all the smell of gas inside the carriages, as if they had passed over a bomb. Without electricity, I can’t work, I hope my husband can come and pick me up with the car,” she concludes.
The displaced people were temporarily accommodated in the parish of Santi Ottavio e Compagni Martiri, a short distance from the station. “The Civil Protection asked us if they had a space available to accommodate people, we set up the chairs and opened the toilets,” explain the priest Riccardo and the deputy Suavomir. “They also asked us if we had rooms for the evacuees to sleep, but we only have a small one: it is not enough, so they decided to contact the gymnasiums of the local colleges, Besso and Bertolotti.” In the meantime, the Municipality of Rome has assured that the housing support procedures are ready to be activated for anyone who requests them.
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