Storms flood Sardinia leaving several dead
Baku, November 19 (AZERTAC). Flash floods have killed at least 14 people on the Italian island of Sardinia. The torrential rain and high winds of cyclone Cleopatra caused rivers to break their banks, bridges to collapse and homes to flood.
Regional president Ugo Cappellacci said on Tuesday that in addition to the known death toll, several people were missing. "The situation is, unfortunately, really dramatic," he told Rai News.
Flights and ferries into and out of the island have been cancelled, and the severe weather halted train service across the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
Bridge collapses killed several people, including a man, his wife and mother-in-law, Ansa reported.
A mother and her daughter were swept away in a torrent that picked up the car in which they were riding.
Many schools were to remain closed Tuesday as meteorologists forecasted more rainfall and authorities struggled to return power to parts of the island.
Television footage showed cars destroyed and bridges felled by the heavy rain and high winds of the cyclone, which made landfall on Monday.
The worst affected area was in and around the city of Olbia in the Mediterranean island's northeast. Much of the city was left destroyed, city Mayor Gianni Giovanelli told Sky TG24.
A family of four was the latest to be reported dead, after their bodies were found in their ground-floor flat.
Three people from the same family died when a road bridge collapsed onto their van outside the city, while a mother and daughter were found dead in a car that was swept away by a torrent, the ANSA news agency reported.
One policeman was killed in a bridge collapse while his vehicle was escorting an ambulance. Three of his colleagues were rescued by emergency services.
Other victims included a 64-year-old woman who died in her flooded home in the village of Uras in southwestern Sardinia, and a 90-year-old woman found dead in her home near Nuoro in the mountainous central part of the island. A man was also killed in a separate bridge collapse.
Many more injured people have been taken to hospital, while hundreds have fled their homes. Continued rain was forecast for Tuesday.
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