Deadly Storm Ciaran hits Western Europe

Unprecedented rain has caused flooding across vast swathes of Italy’s Tuscany region, with Storm Ciarán barreling into the country overnight, trapping residents in their homes, flooding hospitals and overturning cars. At least five people died, bringing the death toll from the hurricane in western Europe to 12 on Friday.

Italian civil protection authorities said nearly 8 inches of rain fell in three hours, from the city of Livorno on the coast to the inland Mugello valley, causing river banks to overflow. Video shows at least a dozen cars being pushed onto a flooded road.

“There was an unprecedented wave of water bombs,” Tuscany Governor Eugenio Gianni told Italian news channel Sky TG24 while trying to describe the rainfall. He reported the five deaths on social media and posted photos of vast inland areas flooded.

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Among the dead in Tuscany was an 85-year-old man who was found on the ground floor of his flooded house near the city of Prato, north of Florence, and an 84-year-old woman who died while trying to remove water from her home. In the same region, according to the Italian News Agency (ANSA). Another victim was reported in Livorno.

At least three people were missing on Friday in Tuscany, and one person was reported missing in the Veneto mountains north of Venice. Other regions were on high alert and authorities warned that the storm was heading toward southern Italy.

Hurricane Ciaran left at least seven people dead when it swept through Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on Thursday. The storm destroyed homes, caused travel chaos, and cut off electricity to a large number of people.

As the storm progressed, at least four hospitals were flooded, including in Pisa and Mugello. Across Tuscany, train lines and highways were disrupted and schools were closed. Hundreds of people were stranded and unable to return home, including about 150 people stuck in Prato after the train line was suspended on Thursday evening.

“A punch in the stomach, a pain that brings tears,” Mayor Matteo Pivone said on social media. “But even after an evening and a night of devastation, we have our sleeves up to clean up our city and return our city to normal.”

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Florence Mayor Dario Nardella told Sky TG24 that the Arno river, which runs through the city centre, has reached alert level one, with the highest levels expected at midday.

“Psychological fear is high, considering that tomorrow is the anniversary of the 1966 flood,” Nardella said, recalling the flood that claimed the lives of 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of artistic masterpieces and rare books.

In the southern Austrian province of Carinthia, bordering Italy and Slovenia, winds and heavy rain on Thursday evening led to landslides, road closures and power outages. The Austrian News Agency reported that about 1,600 families were without electricity early Friday.

The storm subsided in northern France and the Atlantic coast on Friday, but heavy rain continued in some areas as emergency workers removed debris from the previous day. Meanwhile, Corsica in the Mediterranean faced unusually strong winds on Friday – gusting up to 87 mph – and areas in the Pyrenees to the southwest were under flood warnings.

More than half a million French families remained without electricity for the second day, especially in the western Brittany region. Trains stopped in several areas and many roads remained closed.

French President Emmanuel Macron traveled on Friday to storm-ravaged areas in Brittany and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was heading to hard-hit areas in Normandy.

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