- Floodwaters triggered by heavy rainfall hit towns in hilly region of central Italy.
- Mayor of Barbara: “It wasn’t a water bomb, it was a tsunami”.
- Rescue teams waded through waist-high water while using rubber dinghies to scoop survivors up.
Flood waters caused by heavy rain raced through multiple villages in a hilly region of central Italy early Friday, killing 10 people and leaving at least four missing, according to authorities.
Hundreds of survivors clambered onto rooftops or climbed trees to await rescue.
“It wasn’t a water bomb, it was a tsunami,” Barbara mayor Riccardo Pasqualini said of the torrential downpour Thursday evening that ravaged his town in the Marche area near the Adriatic Sea.
He said the flooding had left Barbara’s 1,300 people without drinking water and with poor phone coverage, and that a mother and her small daughter had gone missing after attempting to flee the floodwaters, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
While firefighters reported at least seven confirmed deaths and three individuals missing, RAI state TV claimed ten confirmed deaths, citing the local prefect’s office. Two children, one a boy who was swept from his mother’s arms in Barbara, were among the four persons still missing as of late Friday morning.
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Injuries were treated in hospitals for 50 people.
Many of the 300 firefighters on the scene swam through waist-high water in flooded streets, while others used rubber dinghies to pick up survivors.
The fire service reported that dozens of people had been rescued who were caught in automobiles, scaled up rooftops, or climbed trees to escape rising floodwaters.
Sassoferrato police officers recalled the rescue of a guy trapped in an automobile. They couldn’t reach him, so they extended a long branch, which the man grabbed, and officers hauled him to safety.
Helicopters were also used to rescue seven people in the Apennine Mountains, which form the spine of central Italy.
Floodwater flooded garages and basements, knocking down doors with its weight and force.
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