FLORENCE, ITALY – Six people were killed and two are missing after floods caused by torrential rain in Livorno at the weekend.
Four members of a family were killed when their basement apartment flooded. One girl was rescued by her grandfather, but he died when he returned to attempt for his other family members.
The city in Tuscany was the worst hit, but weather warnings have been issued for much of the country. Rome was also flooded in several parts and various metro stations were closed because of flooding. The storm front has now moved further south with flooding in and around Salerno, while mud and rocks have engulfed basements in and around Avellino.
There has also been flooding in Palermo and Catania, where gales have felled trees, while there have been storms all night in the Aeolian Islands. There has been disruption to train services around Mt Vesuvius and between Naples and Rome with some trains delayed by as much as four hours. A stretch of the A2 motorway near Reggio Calabria was closed after a landslide.
Premier Paolo Gentiloni urged “all the institutions in Livorno to collaborate without sparking rows, focusing on the community” after the accusations that warnings on the deadly floods came too late. “To the victims go not only our thoughts but also the solidarity of the whole country,” Gentiloni added.
Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti said on his arrival in Livorno : “I don’t think this is an emergency, it would be wrong to call it an emergency”. He said the rain-fed floods were the result of “climate change, and other (factors)”. Galletti said the government had earmarked “millions of euros to clean up rivers and sewer systems, and now this money must be spent”.
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