The landslide that destroyed part of the regional road 47 leading to Cogne, isolating the municipality of Valtournanche. There is no certainty about the time it will take for restoration
Cogne is still isolatedin Valle d’Aosta, and it will take weeks before it becomes reachable again. Cervinia flooded by mud. The disaster that hit two of the symbolic towns of Aosta Valley tourism is only the most sensational image of what has overwhelmed a large corner of the North-West with heavy rains and hailstorms between Saturday and Sunday. The result: landslides, floods, blocked roads, isolated villages, mudslides, hundreds of displaced people. In the nearby Canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, there were three dead and one missing due to the consequences of the bad weather wave. There is now a weather warning for Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna.
The fire brigade helicopters went into action evacuate around 500 people from Cognehit by the flooding of its torrents: another 250 will have to be removed, again by helicopter, due to the landslide that interrupted regional road 47 which reaches the hamlet. The base for the departure and arrival of the helicopters is in Aymavilles, a municipality further down the valley. The evacuees are residents and tourists (about a hundred from Cogne and the same number from nearby Valnontey). The hotel association of Aosta (Adava) is collecting availability to offer rooms free of charge. In the municipality of Cogne there are problems with internet and telephone lines, drinking water is available only in some public fountains, while work is underway to restore the aqueduct.
29 people were evacuated from the Monte Rosa shelters. Another 120 from Alpe Vegliain the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, where Tambach flooded Macugnaga. But there are also those who did not want to leave: «We are in the mountain pasture and we have animals, we cannot leave them alone» explains Cristina, of the Alpe Burki farmhouse.
Flood damage in Cervinia – Ansa
A Locana (Turin) 37 Italians, Germans and French who were dining in a restaurant had to leave due to the emergency caused by a landslide. TO Cogne About thirty campers were saved thanks to the hospitality of a hotelier. Twenty were stuck in Ceresole Reale (Turin), where they had gone up for a concert. Between Montanaro and San Benigno (Turin) Firefighters rescued a family of vacationers from Belgium, consisting of a husband, wife and three-month-old baby, who were caught in their car by the sudden flooding of the Orco torrent.
The Valle d’Aosta Region has declared a state of natural disaster at a regional level and asked for a national state of emergency to be decided. The head of Civil Protection, Fabrizio Curcio, explained this morning that «the event is underway, the waterways are still very high. Also to understand the type of technical intervention to be carried out you need to understand the type of damage, how far the water reached it, which part was the most eroded.” «The priorities – said Curcio – are the people to be brought down, the road system, the essential services, that is, a part of the aqueductstill some electrical parts that need to be fixed, and then there are all the procedures for the state of emergency because this then allows the territory to operate more quickly.”
The continuation of the isolation of Cogne would weigh on the tourist economy. «Like all communities – added Curcio – it wants to restart quickly. They live off tourism and this area, especially in the coming months, is in high demand, so there is a need to do things quickly.. Not only do the operators want to work but the tourists want to come.”
The violence of the river that invaded Cogne photographed from a window – Ansa
The storm front coming from France (where a falling tree killed three people) raged on the Gran Paradiso, unloading a downpour on Cogne and, on the Piedmont side, towards the Orco Valley, where 176 millimetres of rain fell on Noasca in a few hours: images of the small waterfall in the town transformed into an avalanche of water have been circulating on the web. Rain gauges recorded a record at Alpe Veglia, in Verbano Cusio Ossola, with 226 millimetres. A hailstorm with hailstones measuring over 10 centimetres hit the piedmont plains of Canavese: Coldiretti is raising the alarm for wheat and corn.
For the Minister of Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci«we must now talk about ordinary events for which, unfortunately, we must all prepare ourselves, institutions and citizens, in a serious prevention activity». Angelo Bonelli, deputy of Verdi e Sinistra, asks that «the government declare a state of climate emergency».
