Italy hit by storm Ciaran, six dead in Tuscany

After France, Tuscany was hit hard. The situation is still very critical in northern Italy. After hitting the Atlantic coast, storm Ciaran hit Tuscany. Heavy rains caused rivers to overflow and caused massive flooding. And unfortunately, the human toll increased this Friday morning. The passage of storm Ciaran over Italy left six dead in Tuscany, authorities announced on Friday in the region where heavy rains caused rivers to overflow and caused flooding.

A missing person was found dead, bringing the death toll from the bad weather which transformed the streets of many villages into torrents of water and mud in just a few hours to six dead, according to rescuers.

Six victims in total

Among the victims, these two people aged over 80 years old. One was swept away while she was struggling at home against rising waters. The other drowned in her house on the ground floor, she did not have time to go upstairs. The situation is critical north of Florence. Rescue workers carried out more than 1,000 interventions by helicopter or inflatable boat, mainly because they were unable to travel otherwise.

The images still show dozens of cars swept away by the floods, three hospitals flooded and therefore operating rooms unusable, 40,000 people are also without electricity. Tuscany is not the only region affected by the storm. Winds and rains swept across the entire northwest and center of the peninsula. 700 homes are without electricity Liguria. Waves reached a height of six meters off the coast of Lazio, where authorities advised people to avoid the coastline and parks.

Ten centimeters of precipitation in two hours

In the town of Montemurlo, which recorded ten centimeters of precipitation in two hours, an 85-year-old man was found drowned in his house, and an 84-year-old woman died from illness linked to the sudden rise in water. A sixth person died in Rosignano, according to Italian media. “What happened last night in Tuscany has a name: climate change,” said Eugenio Giani on his X account, who declared a state of emergency.

Motorists stuck in their vehicles

Firefighters said they had carried out dozens of interventions around Florence, Pistoia, Pisa and Prato to rescue motorists stuck in their vehicles in flooded tunnels or because of trees that had fallen on the road.

In Florence, “the situation is critical”, warned mayor Dario Nardella on X on the night of Thursday to Friday. Three hospitals in the region suffered flooding linked to river flooding and rail traffic is severely disrupted . The orange alert for precipitation and strong winds is in effect until Friday 6 p.m. in Tuscany.