A fresh bout of bad weather pummeled
Tuscany and Liguria on Tuesday.
A so-called 'water bomb' hit the city of Florence early in the
morning as storms whipped northern Tuscany.
Several areas of the city were flooded, in particular the
Oltrarno and Galluzzo districts, local police said.
The intensity of the bad weather also caused damage in Liguria,
in particular in Genoa, where firefighters early on Tuesday were
searching through the rubble of a collapsed wall to ensure
nobody was underneath.
The bad weather started peltering Liguria overnight with the
Entella river overflowing its banks in Chiavari and a landslide
reported in Valfontanabuona, where four families had to leave
their homes for security reasons.
A bad weather red alert will remain in force in Tigullio until
early in the afternoon while an orange alert is set to remain in
Genoa.
Landslides and flood warning levels for rivers are also
expected in northern Tuscany due to a fresh bout of bad weather.
An orange bad weather alert has been enforced in northern areas
of the region.
The town of Mulazzo near Massa Carrara was hit by over 216
millimetres of water over the past 24 hours, regional
authorities said.
The Magra and Bagnone rivers also reached flood warning levels
and are being closely monitored, they said.
Storms have also been forecast in the central part of the region
later on Tuesday.
Meanwhile local authorities in Florence also said later in the
morning that nearly 39 millimetres had fallen in just three
hours in the Tuscan city, flooding streets that were closed to
traffic, including around the Careggi Hospital.
Tram services were also temporarily suspended.
A number of roads north of Florence connecting the city to the
Mugello area were also temporarily closed to traffic due to the
bad weather, which caused the Calza stream to overflow its banks
between the towns of Vaglia and Fontebuona.
Florence Mayor Sara Funaro said the situation was improving late
in the morning while urging drivers to exercise caution.
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