Heavy snow and rain amid low
temperatures and continuing tremors were affecting central Italy
especially strongly on Wednesday.
Some 100,000 people have been left without electricity in the
region of Abruzzo after copious snowfall and rain continues on
the coast, with the river in Pescara under extra surveillance
due to concerns of possible flooding.
Road conditions are in a critical state in the Teramo
province, where public buildings have been damaged by earthquake
tremors in the morning.
Civil Protection chief Fabrizio Curcio said that assessing
the situation after the new series of earthquakes in central
Italy was difficult due to snow in many areas.
"The situation is quite complicated," Curcio told Sky
television. "It has been snowing without stop in that area
(central Italy, Ed.) for hours and it will continue to do so for
the next few hours."
The civil protection department in the Marche region on
Wednesday announced an alarm for possible avalanches due to the
heavy snowfall and the quakes.
The mayor of Amatrice in the Lazio region, where 236 people
were killed by the earthquake on 24 August, said that "the
emergency is neither the earthquake nor the damage in the red
zone, it is the snow. We urgently need turbines and snowplows
are not enough, since we have isolated areas with two meters of
snow on the ground."
The entire Teramo province has been without electricity for
48 hours and the authorities have requested assistance from the
military. The police union in Castrogno has warned that, with
detainees and staff freezing and without electricity, riots may
break out.
Buildings have collapsed in Campotosto, Laringo and Poggio
Cancelli, in the area near the epicenter of the day's
earthquake, and people are digging through the snow to escape.
Vehicles cannot move due to the snow.
Firemen have found 12 farmers in the Arquata del Tronto area
that had been reported missing but three others have not yet
been found. The area has been hit by heavy snowfall and
buildings may have collapsed following the morning's
earthquakes.
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