Saturday, November 5, 2011

Six killed as Italian port city floods

Terra Daily via AFP: Six people were killed Friday when the Italian port city of Genoa was hit by flash floods during heavy rainfall, including a woman who was apparently crushed by cars being swept away by the water. "There have been six deaths," said the local prefect, Francesco Musolino.

Hundreds of shops were flooded and emergency officials urged residents to move to high ground and upper floors as waters rose and firefighters used rubber dinghies and divers to evacuate people, officials said.

Five of the victims, including two children, died when the lobby of an apartment block in which they had sought shelter flooded. "This was a completely unexpected tragedy," said Genoa mayor Marta Vicenzi.

Motorways in the area were also closed off and flights re-routed away from the local airport. Schools will be shut on Saturday....

A scene from an October 2010 flood in Genoa, shot by Alessio Sbarbaro (Yoggysot), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

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