[ad_1]
But the first news is positive: firefighters rescued five people who were trapped in the tunnel that connects Italy and France. There are four French firefighters – the garrison of the pompiers de sapeurs at the entrance to the port on the French side is unusable – and an Italian shepherd, whom the firefighters have freed with an excavator. The pastor reported seeing his brother, who works with him in the upper Vermenagna valley, washed away by the flooding of rivers on the French side of the connection. Investigations are ongoing, also with the help of French firefighters.
And Limone Piemonte, the tourist center of the Alpes-Maritimes, on the border with France, is isolated. The country has no electricity and many areas are completely flooded. Some buildings were evacuated. Staff from the Turin fire brigade also came to the Cuneo area to provide support. The greatest damage was caused by the flooding of the Vermenagna stream.
Colle di Tenda is isolated after landslides that forced the Anas to close the tunnel and the mayors to order the closure of state highway 20 between Limone and Vernante. The situation in Vernante is also critical. “The river is growing again,” said Mayor Gian Piero Dalmasso, concerned around 10:30 p.m. “I also had to evacuate the other families, now there are 35 displaced people.”
The Val Roja state road “devoured” by the river
In the afternoon it was the Roya River on the French side that had been concerned. The water had caused the collapse of the highway over Tenda, between Tenda and Vievola, in the city of Fontan. And in the afternoon the Romanesque four-arched bridge between Tenda and San Dalmazzo collapsed: the city of Tenda is effectively isolated. The amount of water that fell in Limone in 18 hours is a historical record, almost 500 millimeters, a level not seen since 1988. The most critical phase is expected during the night.
The Tanaro flood in the center of Garessio (Photo by L’Unione Monregalese)
But in the Cuneo area there is also an emergency in another valley: the Tanaro river, which began to overflow in Garessio shortly after 10 p.m. All bridges have been closed for fear of a repeat of the 1994 flood. “The level of the Tanaro rises much faster than expected,” the mayor of Garessio, Ferruccio Fazio, a former Minister of Health, said on Facebook a few hours earlier. in the Berlusconi government. And in fact, in the middle of the night the river overflowed invading the streets of the town after reaching a height of six meters in a few hours.
Playing now ….
And the river, in its course towards the valley, also floods in Ceva, in the round zone. All bridges have been closed here too. First, the fury of the waters toppled the historic Romanesque bridge of Bagnasco, a symbol of the town, already damaged by the flood 26 years ago. But this time he relented. Now we wait for the river to pass in the other areas of the Cuneo area: in Mondovì and then in Alba. Still in the upper Val Tanaro, in Ormea, some thirty people remained isolated in some villages. Among them was the driver of a cattle truck.
Playing now ….
But there is also alarm in northern Piedmont. Borgosesia, in the Vercelli area, the record wave of the Sesia River, which reached 8.54 meters, caused widespread flooding. All bridges closed since last night, parked cars were under water at various points in the city. The houses are also flooded. The mayor has launched an appeal: “Please stay home!”
Floods in Mergozzo, in Verbano Cusio Ossola, in Candoglia where, according to ARPA data, more than 214 mm of rain fell in the last 12 hours. Discomfort also in the Biellese, where landslides and blackouts are registered. It no longer rains in Turin, where Po levels rose overnight, but with values below thresholds, while more consistent increases are recorded for Dora Baltea.
The orange alert is maintained, confirmed yesterday afternoon by the ARPA, the Regional Environmental Protection Agency, which foresees a progressive attenuation of the phenomena only from late in the morning, with residual rains in the Verbano.
