Rome – AFP
The death toll from the floods caused by torrential rains that hit the Marche region in central Italy, on Friday, has risen to 11, with two missing, authorities said Saturday.
A statement from the Ancona police station said that “search operations are continuing to find the missing.” The local press reported that they were an eight-year-old child and a fifty-six-year-old woman. Unprecedented rains, equivalent to the level of six months of precipitation, fell on the Marshi region, causing floods and torrents of mud. Cellars were flooded and many cars were washed away. Falling trees and landslides cut off several local roads, complicating ambulance operations.
And bad weather continued Saturday, in a large part of Italy, with strong winds, especially on the west coast, where Tuscany and Rome.
The authorities in Marche expected more rain, and called on residents to stay in their homes. “Leave the ground floor of your house and go to the upper classes,” Senagalia Mayor Massimo Olivetti told his compatriots.
In Ravenna, Saturday, the storm broke the anchor of the Norwegian cruise ship “Viking Sea” with 870 passengers and 200 crew members on board. Five locomotives intervened to stabilize the ship, then return it to the berth.
