Civil protection authorities
on Monday issued weather alerts for most of Italy as a wave of
inclement weather pounded the peninsula and meteorologists
predicted more heavy rains and squalls.
Snow fell above 2,000 meters in the northern Friuli
Venezia Giulia region, where volunteer firefighting chief
Alexander Mayr, 39, lost his life when a landslide swept him
into a torrent.
Mayr was working to clear a state road from debris when a
landslide swept him into the Isarco torrent. Attempts at
resuscitation were unsuccessful.
In Calabria, a woman was hospitalized with non
life-threatening injuries when the wind uprooted a tree, which
fell on her, while a tornado tore roofs off buildings and
uprooted trees in the seaside resort of Diamante, near Cosenza.
Near the northern city of Arezzo, a 40-meter section of the
roof of a 14th-century curch caved in under the weight of water
following torrential downpours, while in Rome, four people were
hospitalized, including a pregnant woman, when a tree branch
crashed on their car as they drove in heavy winds.
Also in Rome, strong winds tore through one of the city's
largest open-air markets, making off with stalls and damaging
the merchandise beyond repair.
In Genoa, winds of over 30 knots forced a Lufthansa flight
from Munich to be rerouted to Turin. Passengers were taken to
Genoa by bus. Operations slowed down in Genoa port due to heavy
winds, and fire fighters were called to remove fallen trees and
signs, and to secure roofs that were in danger of being blown
away.
In the Campania region south of Rome, emergency services
were working Monday to remove mud and debris from an overflowing
river that covered a section of highway linking the cities of
Salerno and Avellino.
A creek overflowed in a town near Avellino, carrying off
eight parked cars, flooding basements, and causing landslides.
In the Naples area, 18 firefighting units are deployed in aid of
stranded motorists and to empty out flooded basements after a
rainstorm pelted several towns around the provincial capital.
In the seaside town of Civitavecchia near Rome, where a
tornado was seen gathering offshore, winds of over 55 knots
drove a Costa Crociere cruise liner onto the dock, damaging one
of the ramps, company sources said.
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