Italy Was Hit By “Tsunami-Like” Flash Floods From Torrential Rains And At Least 10 People Are Dead
Torrential rain triggered flash floods that struck the Marche region of central Italy on the evening of Thursday Sep 16, killing at least 10 people and leaving another 50 in hospital.
Torrential rain triggered flash floods that struck the Marche region of central Italy on the evening of Thursday Sep 16, killing at least 10 people and leaving another 50 in hospital.
Authorities said the region had received 400 milimeters (15.75 inches), about a third of the annual amount, in just two to three hours.
The mayor of a town in the region said there had only been a yellow alert for wind and rain.
Aerial footage showed survivors clinging to trees and clambering on rooftops to escape rushing water.
“You could see cars in the middle of the road that drifted away in the flood, debris everywhere, screams. It was chaos,” a resident in Cantiano, Mirco Santarelli, told The Associated Press.
The mayor of Barbara said the event had left 1,300 of its residents without drinking water and limited phone services.
Some 300 firefighters were dispatched for rescue operations.
“What happened today shows how the fight against climate change is fundamental,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said at a news conference.
The Italian government had declared a state of emergency in affected areas.
This is just the latest incident in a summer of extreme weather.
In a statement on Thursday, Coldiretti, an Italian confederation of agricultural producers cited data from the European Severe Weather Database. 1,642 extreme events have occurred this summer, more than five times more than what it was 10 years ago.
