In Cogne, Aosta Valley, authorities and residents are dealing with the consequences of the weekend floods, which caused extensive damage in northwest Italy, Switzerland and France. The rains caused numerous landslides and caused rivers and streams to overflow, destroying paths and roads.
Several sections of the regional road 47, the only one that connects Cogne to the valley floor, were destroyed by the flooding of the Grand Eyvia river: as a result, the town has been isolated since Saturday, reachable almost only by helicopter. At the moment it is still too early to assess all the damage, given that the watercourses still have very high levels. Fabrizio Curcio, the head of the National Department of Civil Protection, told Sky Tg24 that “the road is quite compromised” and traffic could be restored no earlier than “a few weeks, even with temporary solutions”.
In the last three days, more than a thousand people, including tourists and residents, have been evacuated from Cogne by helicopter. They are taken to the sports field in Aymavilles, and from there transferred by bus to Aosta. Drinking water supplies have been cut off in many buildings, but are slowly being restored.
From the hamlet of Valnontey, in Cogne, it is possible to access the Aosta Valley part of the Gran Paradiso National Park: at the moment, however, traffic here is also blocked due to landslides. On Tuesday morning, a gap was opened in the road to allow emergency vehicles to pass. Heavy rains damaged the pipes of the aqueduct that serves the Cogne area, causing the interruption of the water supply. The storms also destroyed the Gran Paradiso campsite, which had been evacuated on Saturday.
The city center has not been particularly affected by the flood damage, but according to several witnesses and news reports the streets are empty and silent in an anomalous way for the period: in fact, at the beginning of July we enter the height of the summer tourist season. It is a big problem for the area, Cogne has a strong tourist vocation: “We are confident that we can save the season”, he told Corriere della Sera Mayor Franco Allera. “Cogne is a place that lives on tourism and we are working to find a system that will allow us to bring our loyal vacationers to Cogne in a short time.”
The rains also caused major damage in nearby Cervinia, also in the Aosta Valley. The flooding of the Marmore torrent reached the center of the town, bringing mud and debris and damaging dozens of commercial activities including bars, shops and restaurants. The intense rains of the weekend also caused damage in various locations in Piedmont, including Noasca (Turin), the upper Susa Valley, the Lanzo Valleys and the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola: in these areas, between 180 and 200 millimeters of rain fell in a few hours, on Saturday evening, an amount that usually falls over the course of weeks or even months, in the summer season.
In Macugnaga, a “diffused municipality” (made up of several small towns) near Monte Rosa, the Tambach and Horlovono streams overflowed, causing damage and flooding in the hamlets of Staffa and Pecetto, and damaging above all the sewer system.
So far, damages in Piedmont have been estimated at 25 million euros, and the governor of the Region Alberto Cirio has asked the government to declare a state of emergency, in order to speed up interventions and the release of funds.
