Italy
Eighth victim found after storm on Ischia
An excavator removes mud and debris. photo
© Salvatore Laporta/AP/dpa
A “bomba d’acqua” – a downpour as it is called in Italian – devastated the north of Ischia at the weekend. The damage is enormous, four people are still missing.
Rescue workers on the Italian island of Ischia found an eighth victim after the severe storm on Saturday night. It was a man, according to a message from the fire department on Twitter on Monday. The search team found him in Casamicciola, one of the areas in the north of the island badly hit by heavy rain and storms. This reduced the number of missing people to four.
Late on Sunday evening, the prefecture in Naples, southern Italy, had confirmed seven more fatalities and announced further details: According to them, a 22-day-old baby, an 11-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister were among them. In addition, the forces discovered three dead women and a man.
Heavy rains had led to flooding and landslides. The northern part of the island was particularly affected. Numerous buildings were affected. Masses of mud drifted through the streets into the houses, destroyed cars and tore them into the sea.
The government in Rome declared a state of emergency on Sunday and pledged two million euros in aid for the largest island in the Gulf of Naples. Critics pointed to the risk of landslides caused by storms on the island’s built-up slopes, which has been known for years, and that the authorities had done too little to protect them. In addition, according to media reports, some houses are said to have been built there without the appropriate tests and permits.
Collection of tweets on the Ischia storm (Italian) Firefighters tweet on the eighth fatality (Italian)