CANTIANO: Flash floods swept through several towns in hilly central Italy on Friday after hours of unusually heavy rain, leaving 10 people dead and at least four missing. Dozens of survivors rushed to rooftops or trees to wait for help.
The floods invaded garages and basements and knocked down doors. In one town, the powerful rush of water pushed a car onto a second-story balcony, while elsewhere parked vehicles were crumpled on top of each other in the streets. Some agricultural fields near the sea were meters (yards) under water.
“It wasn’t a water bomb, it was a tsunami” Ricardo Pasqualinithe mayor of Barbara, told Italian public radio of the sudden downpour that devastated his town in the Marche region near the Adriatic Sea on Thursday evening.
He said overnight flooding left the town’s 1,300 residents without drinking water. A mother and her young daughter disappeared after trying to escape the floods, Pasqualini told Italian news agency ANSA. Elsewhere in town, a boy was carried from the arms of his mother, who was rescued.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi told a news conference in Rome that 10 people had died and four were missing in the flash floods. He thanked the rescuers “for their professionalism, dedication and courage”. Officials said around 50 people were treated in hospitals for injuries.
Draghi, who is serving as a watchman ahead of Italy’s September 25 national elections, has planned to visit some devastated towns later on Friday and his government has announced 5 million euros (dollars) in aid for the region.
It was an extreme event, more than exceptional, climatologist Massimiliano Fazzini told Italian public television. He said, based on his calculations, the amount of rain that fell, concentrated over four hours including a particularly heavy 15-minute period, was the highest in hundreds of years.
Within hours, the region was inundated with the amount of rain it usually receives in six months, state television said. A summer with virtually no rain meant the hillsides were exceptionally hard and dry, so water flowed faster down the slopes, increasing its impact.
The fire department tweeted that dozens of people trapped in cars or who had climbed onto rooftops or trees to escape rising floodwaters had been rescued. city police Sassoferratounable to reach a man trapped in a car, handed him a long tree branch and dragged him to safety.
Helicopter crews rescued seven people from remote towns in the Apennine mountains.
Hundreds of firefighters struggled on Friday to remove overturned tree trunks and branches amid thick mud as they searched for people who may have been buried in debris. They waded through water up to their waists in the flooded streets, while others paddled in dinghies to pick up survivors.
In the city of Ostra, a father and his adult son were found dead in the flooded garage of their building where they had gone to try to get their car out, and another man who tried to get his motorbike out of a garage also perished, state television said. . Elsewhere, a man was found dead in his car.
“As it (the flood) unfolded, it was much, much worse than expected,” said civil protection chief Fabrizio Curcio. An unfavorable weather watch had been issued on Thursday, but not at the highest level.
Hundreds of people fled or were evacuated from their homes until security could be verified and mountains of mud were cleared away.
Some of the worst flooding hit the town of Senigallia, where the Misa River overflowed. Hamlets in the hills near the Renaissance tourist town of Urbino were also inundated as rivers of water, mud and debris rushed through the streets.
In the town of Cantiano, people shoveled mud from shops and houses and an excavation machine was deployed to clear the town square.
“I was lucky because I live in a house on a slope, so basically the water didn’t get to the point of covering it,” Mirco said. Santarelli, a resident of Cantiano. “But all around here, with people living in the valley area, it became a bowl (of water). It was panic.”
“You could see cars in the middle of the road moving away in the flood, debris everywhere, screaming. It was chaos,” Santarelli told The Associated Press.
The floods invaded garages and basements and knocked down doors. In one town, the powerful rush of water pushed a car onto a second-story balcony, while elsewhere parked vehicles were crumpled on top of each other in the streets. Some agricultural fields near the sea were meters (yards) under water.
“It wasn’t a water bomb, it was a tsunami” Ricardo Pasqualinithe mayor of Barbara, told Italian public radio of the sudden downpour that devastated his town in the Marche region near the Adriatic Sea on Thursday evening.
He said overnight flooding left the town’s 1,300 residents without drinking water. A mother and her young daughter disappeared after trying to escape the floods, Pasqualini told Italian news agency ANSA. Elsewhere in town, a boy was carried from the arms of his mother, who was rescued.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi told a news conference in Rome that 10 people had died and four were missing in the flash floods. He thanked the rescuers “for their professionalism, dedication and courage”. Officials said around 50 people were treated in hospitals for injuries.
Draghi, who is serving as a watchman ahead of Italy’s September 25 national elections, has planned to visit some devastated towns later on Friday and his government has announced 5 million euros (dollars) in aid for the region.
It was an extreme event, more than exceptional, climatologist Massimiliano Fazzini told Italian public television. He said, based on his calculations, the amount of rain that fell, concentrated over four hours including a particularly heavy 15-minute period, was the highest in hundreds of years.
Within hours, the region was inundated with the amount of rain it usually receives in six months, state television said. A summer with virtually no rain meant the hillsides were exceptionally hard and dry, so water flowed faster down the slopes, increasing its impact.
The fire department tweeted that dozens of people trapped in cars or who had climbed onto rooftops or trees to escape rising floodwaters had been rescued. city police Sassoferratounable to reach a man trapped in a car, handed him a long tree branch and dragged him to safety.
Helicopter crews rescued seven people from remote towns in the Apennine mountains.
Hundreds of firefighters struggled on Friday to remove overturned tree trunks and branches amid thick mud as they searched for people who may have been buried in debris. They waded through water up to their waists in the flooded streets, while others paddled in dinghies to pick up survivors.
In the city of Ostra, a father and his adult son were found dead in the flooded garage of their building where they had gone to try to get their car out, and another man who tried to get his motorbike out of a garage also perished, state television said. . Elsewhere, a man was found dead in his car.
“As it (the flood) unfolded, it was much, much worse than expected,” said civil protection chief Fabrizio Curcio. An unfavorable weather watch had been issued on Thursday, but not at the highest level.
Hundreds of people fled or were evacuated from their homes until security could be verified and mountains of mud were cleared away.
Some of the worst flooding hit the town of Senigallia, where the Misa River overflowed. Hamlets in the hills near the Renaissance tourist town of Urbino were also inundated as rivers of water, mud and debris rushed through the streets.
In the town of Cantiano, people shoveled mud from shops and houses and an excavation machine was deployed to clear the town square.
“I was lucky because I live in a house on a slope, so basically the water didn’t get to the point of covering it,” Mirco said. Santarelli, a resident of Cantiano. “But all around here, with people living in the valley area, it became a bowl (of water). It was panic.”
“You could see cars in the middle of the road moving away in the flood, debris everywhere, screaming. It was chaos,” Santarelli told The Associated Press.
