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Six dead in Tuscany after Storm Ciarán hits Italy

The region of Tuscany declared a state of emergency on Friday with at least six people dead following severe flooding overnight.

Published: 3 November 2023 10:15 CET
Updated: 3 November 2023 18:21 CET
Six dead in Tuscany after Storm Ciarán hits Italy
The Italian fire service said 400 firefighters were at work in Tuscany on Thursday night amid flooding caused by Storm Ciaran. Photo: Vigil del Fuoco (Italian fire and rescue service)

The death toll from flooding in Tuscany rose to six on Friday evening after rescuers found the body of a man initially reported missing.

“Unfortunately, a further death has been confirmed in Montemurlo,” Eugenio Giani, Tuscany’s regional governor, said in a statement. “The victims of this tragic day rise to six.”

Those killed included an 85-year-old man who was found drowned on the ground floor of his house in Montemurlo, northwest of Florence.

IN PHOTOS: Storm Ciarán causes deadly flooding in Italy

At least two others remained missing on Friday, including a firefighter in Belluno, north of Venice.

Some 40,000 homes had been left without electricity, according to media reports.

Giani posted photos on his Facebook account on Friday showing “devastating” flooding in the areas of Campi Bisenzio, Prato and Quarrata.

Giani had declared a state of emergency on social media at 11pm on Thursday, urging people to stay indoors and saying the situation was “really very serious”.

“What happened tonight in Tuscany has a name: climate change,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It has been a long and complex night for the entire regional civil protection system,” he wrote.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said in a statement on Friday morning that she was following events “with apprehension” and expressed her “deep condolences for the victims, on behalf of her staff and the entire government.”

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the goverment was in “constant contact” with emergency services as he posted footage on social media of cars being swept away by floods in the Campi Bisenzio area.

Weather warnings were still in place in many regions of the country on Friday, with parts of Veneto and Fruili Venezia Giulia on the highest level red alert.

Veneto regional governor Luca Zaia warned residents not to travel on Friday, reported news agency Ansa, and many towns and cities across Italy ordered the closure of schools.

Storm Ciaran has wreaked havoc across Europe in recent days, killing two people in France, two in Belgium, and one in Spain.

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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