AGI – Due to the heavy rains that hit the northern area of Piedmont, fire brigade teams are busy in the provinces of Verbano and Turin to landslides, mudslides and rescue of people in difficulty: 80 completed in total. In Locana (Turin) they were transferred yesterday to a safe area 37 people who were stuck in a restaurant due to a landslide. In Mathi, still in the province of Turin, two families living in homes threatened by the flooding of the Stura di Lanzo river were evacuated as a precaution.
It is worth mentioning the intervention of the Turin fire brigade carried out last night between Montanaro and San Benigno Canavese for the rescue of two adults and a 3-month-old baby girl stuck in a car for the rising water of the Orco torrent. In Noasca (Turin) experts in driving earthmoving vehicles are working to clear the road leading to Ceresole Reale from landslides. In the upper Verbano in Macugnaga, an important tourist center in the Anzasca Valley, at the foot of the eastern face of Monte Rosa, due to the flooding in several places of the Anza torrent, firefighter teams have worked to evacuate and bring several people to a safe area. Since 5:30 this morning, the Drago helicopter of the Piedmont flight department has been carrying out aerial reconnaissance of the areas affected by the bad weather. The violent downpour only calmed down shortly before dawn.
During the night, due to torrential rain, with accumulations greater than 200 mm in a few hours caused the flooding of two waterways: the Rio Tambach overflowed its banks, invading the town hall square and a large part of the town of Staffa, the main of the twelve villages into which the town is divided. The water that rushed out with great fury tore away the bridge at the cable car station, damaged the streets and flooded homes and premises. About ninety residents had to leave their homes. However, there are no injured or missing people.
Problems for tourists too. Only in Macugnaga this weekend were they present more than 500 people who participated in a famous mountain race, the Monterosa Est Himalayan trail, held yesterday. Some of them were stranded without the possibility of returning to the valley and without a place to spend the night. In the hamlet of Pecetto, however, the Anza torrent flooded. Regional road 549 is interrupted between Pecetto and Isella. The damage is extensive. During the night there was no electricity practically everywhere. Since the first light of dawn, civil protection has been working to remove the materials dragged by the fury of the water and restore traffic.
