Past years several large storms have caused severe weather emergencies affecting the Italian territory and putting a strain on populations and civil protection systems. On this context, the Italian Fire and Rescue Service (CNVVF), deploys specialized resources to deal with this type of emergency such as search and rescue (SAR) activities in aquatic environment, countering aquatic hazards with rescuers and vehicles, as well as rescue management and strategic scenario characterization preparatory to response planning and resources mobilization. In the following, the focus will be on a key tool in monitoring and planning perspective, i.e. the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), commonly referred to as drones. In the first stages of the emergency, the use of drones allows a rapid characterization of the scenario and an initial estimate of the magnitude of the damage caused by the event. Due to their high mobility, ready deployment, and high flexibility of use, drones allow to cover large areas of territory in a short time with a reduced deployment of units. Moreover, their utilization allows for an initial qualitative assessment of the intervention requests, which, aided by the topographic applied to rescue (TAS), units permits to obtain georeferenced information on the scenarios useful to the appropriate dimensioning of the rescuer’s response. The article will discuss a specific case of drone monitoring technique utilization in a real calamity after a storm that hit the Lombardy region on July 21–24, 2023. The focus will be precisely on the municipality of Turate, in the province of Como, in the northern part of Lombardy. Eventually, with the support of the acquired images, it will be demonstrated how, through the acquisition of real-time georeferenced images, it is possible to provide a broad picture of the scenario to support the decision-making process of the Incident Command System (ICS). With the help of drone monitoring techniques, rescue services corps such as the CNVVF are able to provide faster and more relevant responses to emergencies that in different ways and at different times affect the community.