Huge masses of water rush through entire city districts, cars swim through the streets and fields resemble lake landscapes. After the storm “Ciaran” raged across large parts of Western Europe in the past few days, Italy was hit by severe storms with heavy rain and flooding on Friday night. At least five people died in the Tuscany region, which is popular with holidaymakers. Meanwhile, cleanup work is underway in France and England.
“What happened tonight in Tuscany has a name: climate change,” wrote the governor of the Italian region of Tuscany, where five people were killed. Governor Eugenio Giani declared a state of emergency for the entire region on Friday morning. “There was an unprecedented wave of depth charges,” Giani said on Italian television.
The fire department responded to more than 1,000 missions in the area during the night. In addition, more than 48,000 households in the area are without power. Among other things, an 85-year-old man drowned in his flooded apartment in the municipality of Montemurlo, northwest of Florence. Another local resident, an 84-year-old woman, died as a result of a seizure.
In the area, 20 centimeters of rain was measured within a few hours, more than ever before since measurements began. Another person died in the coastal town of Rosignano.
The outcome of the storm was particularly “bad” in France and Italy
The heavy rain caused rivers to overflow their banks in the popular holiday region and led to flooding. In several places, masses of mud and water rolled through the streets. In the areas surrounding Florence, Pisa and Prato, the fire brigade was deployed dozens of times to rescue motorists who were stuck in their vehicles in flooded tunnels or on the road because of fallen trees.
The situation in Florence is “critical,” said Mayor Dario Nardelle on the online service X (formerly Twitter) that night. The Arno River was expected to reach its highest water level later on Friday. The storm also reached Venice, where two people were missing, according to local media. Rainfall in the region weakened or stopped completely on Friday morning.
“The balance sheet is bad,” said French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. In France there were two deaths and 47 injured. In the morning, more than half a million households in the country were still without power, half of them in Brittany. Especially in Finistère, in the west of Brittany, some power lines were “almost chopped up” by falling trees, said government spokesman Olivier Véran. Wind gusts of more than 200 kilometers per hour were measured there on Thursday night.
Public transport affected
In the Hauts-de-France department north of Paris, numerous regional trains were canceled on Friday. “Long-distance connections are hardly affected,” said Transport Minister Clément Beaune. The French autumn holidays end at the weekend and 1.5 million travelers are expected.
French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to go to Brittany on Friday to thank the emergency workers and speak to those affected. Another, but weaker, storm was expected on the French Atlantic coast. Spain declared the highest alert level for the Galicia region and the Basque Country on Friday.
“Ciaran” had been sweeping across parts of Western Europe since Thursday with top gusts of around 200 kilometers per hour and heavy rain. People also died in the storm in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the Belgian city of Ghent, a five-year-old Ukrainian child who was playing outside and was hit by a falling tree died on Friday. Also in Ghent, a 64-year-old woman from Germany who was visiting Belgium was killed. In Goslar, Lower Saxony, a 46-year-old woman from Bavaria died when a tree fell.