Debris is seen on the road after the landslide.
Milan:
A woman was found dead on the island of Ischia and about 10 people were still missing after a landslide triggered by heavy rain on Saturday, an Italian local government official said.
Torrential rain hit the port of Casamiciola Terme, one of six small towns on the island, in the early hours, causing flooding and bringing down buildings.
“The death toll is currently one, a woman. Eight missing persons, including a child, have been found, and there are still about 10 missing,” Naples prefect Claudio Palomba told a news conference.
Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini had earlier said during an event in Milan that eight people had been killed.
Italy’s fire brigade said on Twitter that seventy firefighters were working on the island, which is about 30 km (19 miles) from Naples, to rescue residents from damaged buildings and search for missing persons.
Thick mud, debris and boulders are visible in the photos at Casamiciola Terme. Several cars on the shoreline were submerged, apparently pushed into the sea by the storm.
Several cars on the shoreline were submerged, apparently pushed into the sea by the storm.
“There are some difficulties in the rescue operations because the weather conditions are still challenging,” Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told reporters in Rome.
Ischia is a volcanic island that attracts visitors to its thermal baths and picturesque mountain coastline. It is densely populated and statistics show that it has a large number of houses that were built illegally, putting residents at permanent risk from floods and earthquakes.
In 2006 a landslide killed a father and his three daughters on the island.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was in close contact with Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumesi, the Civil Protection Department and the local Campania region.
“The government expresses its closeness to the citizens and mayors of the municipalities on the island of Ischia and thanks the rescuers engaged in the search for the missing,” she said.
The south of Italy, where homes are often built illegally, bypassing safety regulations, are more susceptible to deadly landslides. At least 150 people were killed in 1998 when the village of Sarano, also not far from Naples, was submerged in mud.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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