FLORENCE, Italy – At least five people have died in Italy as torrential downpours from Storm Ciarán dropped record rains across the northern Tuscany, leading to widespread flash flooding.
Video showed cars being carried through the streets by the fast-moving currents before midnight local time as nearly 8 inches of rain fell in just three hours.
Reuters reported two died after a bridge collapsed near the city of Pistoia. Two elderly victims died in Montemurlo, and a fifth person died in the town of Rosignano. As of the last check, two people remain missing.
Firefighters said they responded to over 100 calls and performed dozens of rescues with many drivers caught off guard by the fast-moving water. Four people were rescued after they were trapped in their vehicles when the Tagliamento River flooded, according to Vigili del Fuoco.
About 60 firefighters working with divers and river rescue teams were searching a swollen Rui canal in Puos D’Alpago for a missing firefighter, Vigili del Fuoco reported.
“We have just sent inflatable boats to Seano, Quarrata and Campi Bisenzio,” Eugenio Giani, the president of Tuscany, posted on X Thursday. “We have also asked the National Civil Protection for helicopters for the urgent transport of people in code red.”
Matteo Biffoni, the mayor of Prato, said the situation was extremely critical and encouraged residents in the region to find higher ground and not to venture outside their homes during the storm.
The local government proactively closed schools, parks, sporting venues and other facilities ahead of the severe weather that saw winds gusting from 50-70 mph as Ciarán swept by.
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Giani said the region had not seen that kind of rainfall in more than 50 years, and it amounted to receiving what normally rains over the entire month of November.
Ciarán’s wrath was felt across a wide swath of northern Europe. The storm transformed into a bomb cyclone as it raced across the Atlantic Ocean, eventually reaching a peak strength of 953 millibars and setting a record for the lowest pressure measured in England in November. The storm triggered incredible winds gusting well over 100 mph along France’s northwestern coast and left 1.2 million without power.
Overall, at least 12 people have died in the storm.
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