Towns in northern Italy and the
Maremma area in Tuscany continue to suffer on Wednesday from
damage caused by heavy rains and subsequent flooding that caused
three deaths.
Lorella Querel, 73, was swept away by a landslide while
walking on the seaside road from Muggia to Lazzaretto in the
province of Trieste in northeastern Italy.
Meanwhile, elderly sisters Graziella and Marisa Carletti
drowned after their car was swept away by the Elsa river and
dragged for more than one kilometer by mud and flood water in
Manciano, a Tuscan town an hour's drive southeast of Grosseto.
Rescue workers in Grosseto found four other abandoned cars
and were able to locate all four owners alive, one of whom had
climbed a tree to escape the flood waters.
Grosseto Prosecutor Francesco Verusio on Wednesday opened an
investigation into the Carletti sisters' deaths, a situation
that Verusio said is analagous to the deaths of three men who
were killed in a 2012 flood in the area when their car was swept
away.
While that case was archived, Verusio said that the Carletti
sisters' case is different because the 2012 event was
"unpredictable" while the current situation wasn't.
Parma's telecommunications have been almost fully restored
on Wednesday, after a two-day communications black-out to
customers of state telecommunications operator Telecom, as a
result of flooding to a Telecom building, which caused more than
1 million euros in damage.
Parma Mayor Federico Pizzarotti and Vice Minister of
Agriculture Andrea Olivero both called for the government to
declare a state of emergency due to natural disaster.
"The government has to take note of an emergency reality
that has been highlighted more than once," Olivero said.
Parma's former provincial assessor for transport, Andrea
Fellini, said on Wednesday that he wrote to the government on
August 4 asking for assistance and highlighting the more than 18
million euros of damage the province had already suffered since
the beginning of 2014 as a result of flooding.
Fellini said his letter, addressed to three ministers as
well as Emilia-Romagna regional assessor Paola Gazzolo, never
received a response.
The Italian Army is assisting efforts in both Parma and
Alessandria, a town an hour southeast of Turin.
The police department in Alessandria received over 2,200
calls for assistance in the 24 hours between October 13 and 14.
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