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DROWNING

Store manager smashes window to save baby

A quick-thinking Valais supermarket manager is being credited with saving the life of a one-month-old baby boy locked in a car directly exposed to the sun.

Store manager smashes window to save baby
A US Weather Services campaign reminding parents not to leave their children in hot cars (Photo: Lykaestria)

Customers alerted Thierry Muscat, who manages a Casino outlet in Collombey-Centre, about the infant who was spotted inside the vehicle.

Muscat rushed to the car and smashed a window to retrieve the screaming infant, who had been choking in the heat.

The incident, which occurred last Friday, underscored the risks of leaving a child unattended in a car, especially during hot summer weather.

“I was in a state of shock,” Muscat recalled in a report carried by Le Matin newspaper on Friday.

“We had immediately called the police and issued an announcement on the public address system in the shopping centre with the licence number of the car.”

Muscat decided he couldn’t wait for police to arrive and, seeing the baby in agony, decided to act.

He used a hammer to smash a window after throwing a cover on the baby through a gap in a partially opened window to protect him from the flying glass.

The baby was rescued just as police arrived.

The child was taken to a nearby dental clinic where he was re-hydrated with water using a syringe.

Muscat said the parents were shocked when they discovered what had happened.

They did not realize that leaving a child in a vehicle in such conditions could be potentially fatal, he said.

The parents are now under investigation by the Valais cantonal department of child protection, which is deciding what further steps to take in the case.

The report emerges as a heat wave is hitting Switzerland with temperatures predicted to rise to 36 degrees in the canton of Valais and several other Swiss locations by Sunday.

In a related development, Valais cantonal police reported that a two-year-old boy drowned on Thursday night after falling into his family’s swimming pool in Fully.

The child’s seven-year-old brother was also seriously injured and is being treated at Lausanne’s university hospital.

The two children fell into the pool after breaching a security gate while the mother was briefly away from home, police said.

An investigation into the accident is underway.

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CLIMATE

Climate crisis: The Italian cities worst affected by flooding and heatwaves

The climate crisis is causing serious problems for Italy's biggest cities and extreme weather events are going to become more frequent, according to a new report.

Climate crisis: The Italian cities worst affected by flooding and heatwaves
A file photo from November 12th, 2019 shows flooding during an exceptionally high 'acqua alta' in Venice.Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Anyone who was in Italy throughout this year’s long, hot summer may suspect that heatwaves are becoming a more frequent occurrence.

And residents of the lagoon city of Venice will no doubt be able to attest to the devastating impact of serious floods, as well as to the fact that such events appear to be becoming increasingly frequent.

In fact, a new study by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) has confirmed that the incidence rate of both heatwaves and floods in Italy has increased significantly – and is only expected to keep rising.

READ ALSO: From Venice to Mont Blanc, how is the climate crisis affecting Italy?

The report stated that average temperatures have risen overall in the last 30 years and continue to rise in all cities.

“Risks associated with climate change affect all Italian regions and their economic sectors,” the study’s authors stated. “Despite contrasts, with different areas being affected in different ways, there are no regions that can be considered immune from climate risks.”

The report found that the southern city of Naples had experienced the biggest increase in the frequency and severity of heatwaves.

Heatwaves fuelled the most destructive fire season to date in Italy this summer Photo: Nicolas TUCAT/AFP

The southern city has in recent years reported an average of 50 more intensely hot days per year than it did at the beginning of the century.

The same figure for Milan was +30 days, Turin +29 and Rome +28. 

Although extreme weather events have always existed and Italy is no stranger to intense heat, numerous studies have found that the climate crisis is making heatwaves more frequent and more dangerous.

Meanwhile, in Venice, over the last 150 years the relative water level of the city has risen by more than 30 centimeters, and the critical threshold has been exceeded 40 times in the last 10 years, the CMCC found..

The report also warned that the city of Bologna could expect to see an increase in the intensity and frequency of flooding in the future.

READ ALSO: Floods in Italy: What to do when there’s a weather warning

It added that “all scenarios” showed an increased risk of heatwaves and urban flooding in the coming years.

In 2019, Rome was found to be the city in Europe most at risk of flooding, according to water monitoring authorities.

“There are parts of Rome that can’t withstand a heavy downpour,” said the Central Apennines District Basin Authority.

Rome’s soft soil and famous hills make it naturally vulnerable to erosion and mudslides, while the authority said poorly maintained sewers, waste dumping and vegetation blocking the course of the Tiber and Aniene rivers were contributing to the flood risk.

Previous studies have also found that Rome suffered the highest number of extreme weather events overall in recent years.

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