Seven people were killed and
one is missing after floods caused by torrential rain in Livorno
at the weekend.
The body of a missing young woman was found Monday in a
private garden engulfed in mud in the Antignano area, not far
from Rio Ardenza, taking the death toll to seven and leaving
just one missing person.
Authorities in the Tuscan coastal city have pointed the
finger at the civil protection department and weathermen for
allegedly not alerting them to the flood danger.
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 Monday: "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".
Livorno Mayor Filippo Nogarin said that "we are working
non-stop and we don't have the time or the inclination
to go on with the usual sterile polemics" amid criticism of a
flood warning system.
"The city is trying to raise its head again with great labour
and pain.
"The civil protection (department), the fire brigade, the
technicians of (environmental services company) ASA and (power
group) ENEL are doing an extraordinary job together with the
volunteers and we can see the results".
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.
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