State of emergency declared in Messina

(ANSA) - Messina, November 6 - Premier Matteo Renzi's government declared Messina to be in a state of emergency on Friday as the water-supply crisis that the Sicilian city is enduring deepened.
    The crisis deteriorated with the breaking of a bypass pipe, which had been installed after a landslide took out a broken aqueduct. The bypass connected the Alcantara aqueduct with the Fiumefreddo one and made it possible to transfer 300 litres of water a second to the city. Messina has been without water for most of the last two weeks after two separate landslides cut off supplies.
    Cabinet secretary Claudio De Vincenti said Friday that the government has given Italy's civil protection department "extraordinary powers" to deal with the Messina crisis, describing the situation in the Sicilian city as "intolerable".
    He added that the executive has allocated special funding and authorised the use of the army. "We accompany the state of emergency with a first funding allocation for the necessary works and we are also putting the Army and military at disposition," De Vincenti said after a cabinet meeting.