Published
Thu, Jun 1, 2023, 08:00
- In the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, 15 people have died and thousands more have been forced to leave their homes.
Flexi, a longstanding record shop in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, is raising funds following severe floods.
In a GoFundMe launched on Friday, May 26th, the shop explained how "flood water filled the entire basement," leaving furniture, electrical equipment and roughly 2000 records "irreparably damaged."
The statement continued: "We're conscious that the disaster around us is huge, and there are much more badly affected areas where the river has taken almost everything. But we also know that Flexi isn't just an ordinary shop. In almost 40 years, it has become a centre of culture and sharing, which is keeping up, standing firm and reshaping itself by looking to the future, always focusing on passion and love for music. That's why we need your help in order to be able to restart and face the immediate costs of restoring what's no longer there."
Submerging much of the region, the floods have led to 15 deaths and more than 36,000 people having to leave their homes. Speaking to Resident Advisor, Flexi's Simone Guerra described the devastating reality of the situation.
"Everything happened in a matter of minutes," he said. "Many people have lost everything: home, job, car, personal belongings—a life buried by mud."
Lugo, the town where Flexi is based, was one of the worst hit in the area. "Flexi flooded on May 18th and the water only went away on May 21st," said Guerra. "When we started cleaning and fixing up the shop, many diggers, friends and volunteers from Pollici Social Club, a local association of DJs and record enthusiasts, came to help."
With the social club's support, Flexi launched a "vinyl restoration" scheme to try and salvage water-damaged records in the town. "We talked to the community to save their records from the flood, so that the music wouldn't be lost," said Guerra. "At first we were anxious about being overwhelmed by mountains of muddy vinyl, but many people asked us how to clean or save their collection compromised by the flood."
The scheme carried on for ten days straight, until Tuesday, May 30th, when Flexi could finally reopen. "The emergency is over, but now begins the reconstruction, which will be very hard," Guerra continued.
Opened in 1984, Flexi is Emilia-Romagna's longest-running record shop. It also has a record label, Flexi Cuts, which launched in 2016.
Donate to the GoFundMe, and browse Flexi's Instagram posts documenting the situation.