Heavy snow leaves 100,000 without power in central Italy

(ANSA) - Rome, January 18 - Heavy snow and rain amid low temperatures and continuing tremors were affecting central Italy especially strongly on Wednesday.
    Some 100,000 people have been left without electricity in the region of Abruzzo after copious snowfall and rain continues on the coast, with the river in Pescara under extra surveillance due to concerns of possible flooding. Road conditions are in a critical state in the Teramo province, where public buildings have been damaged by earthquake tremors in the morning. Civil Protection chief Fabrizio Curcio said that assessing the situation after the new series of earthquakes in central Italy was difficult due to snow in many areas. "The situation is quite complicated," Curcio told Sky television. "It has been snowing without stop in that area (central Italy, Ed.) for hours and it will continue to do so for the next few hours." The civil protection department in the Marche region on Wednesday announced an alarm for possible avalanches due to the heavy snowfall and the quakes.
    The mayor of Amatrice in the Lazio region, where 236 people were killed by the earthquake on 24 August, said that "the emergency is neither the earthquake nor the damage in the red zone, it is the snow. We urgently need turbines and snowplows are not enough, since we have isolated areas with two meters of snow on the ground." The entire Teramo province has been without electricity for 48 hours and the authorities have requested assistance from the military. The police union in Castrogno has warned that, with detainees and staff freezing and without electricity, riots may break out. Buildings have collapsed in Campotosto, Laringo and Poggio Cancelli, in the area near the epicenter of the day's earthquake, and people are digging through the snow to escape.
    Vehicles cannot move due to the snow. Firemen have found 12 farmers in the Arquata del Tronto area that had been reported missing but three others have not yet been found. The area has been hit by heavy snowfall and buildings may have collapsed following the morning's earthquakes.