Severe storms with heavy rainfall hit Tuscany on Friday night. At least five people were killed, says regional president Eugenio Giani. Two people are still missing, one has now been found alive.
The province of Prato in the north of the region, which is popular with holidaymakers, was particularly affected. “We have never recorded so much rain in so few minutes,” Giani wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The politician declared a state of emergency for the entire region in the morning. The fire department responded to more than 1,000 missions in the area. In addition, more than 40,000 households in the area not far from Florence are without electricity. The Bisenzio River overflowed its banks and flooded several communities. Videos on social media showed how many cars were swept away by the water on a street in the town of Campi Bisenzio. In the coastal town of Viareggio, the waterfront promenade is flooded.
Parts of the A11 motorway had to be closed. There were significant problems with rail traffic. In some areas the torrents of water were so powerful that hospitals were also flooded. Civil defense was on duty at night. He warned people on Thursday evening and called on them not to leave the house. A local mayor spoke in the newspaper Corriere della Sera of a “wave of storms the likes of which we have never experienced before.”
The Veneto region in the northeast of the Mediterranean country is also affected by the severe storms. A person is missing in the province of Belluno, north of Venice. It is a firefighter who was not on duty but had stacked sandbags by a river as he prepared for the storm.