A desperate search is underway to find a five-month-old baby and his grandmother who were swept away during heavy rain and flooding from a holiday home where they were staying in Italy
A five-month-old baby and his grandmother are missing after a family of tourists became caught in major floods in Italy.
Heavy rainfall came down in Tuscany on Monday night with two people swept away by flooding, said firefighters. Local reports say the two missing people are from a family of German tourists. The baby’s parents and grandfather were rescued from a rooftop after the house where they were staying was flooded as Pisa province was battered by torrential rain.
It is understood that the fast running water burst through the house and carried away the five-month old baby and his grandma. The severe flooding was caused by a local river that broke its banks in Montecatini Val di Cecina in central Tuscany. “We always aim at finding people alive, but this accident doesn’t leave us many hopes,” a spokesperson for the firefighters, Luca Cari, told SkyTG24. “The situation is very, very critical.”
Divers and dog units are being used in the search alongside emergency helicopters and drones. The mayor of Montecatini Val di Cecina, Francesco Auriemma, said the situation “is still critical, the search for the two missing is continuing with the deployment of over 100 people between Firefighters, ANPAS (association of rescue teams) and the Red Cross.”
Cecina Mayor Lia Burgalassi said that debris is being removed from the river in Marina with a bridge closed and it is feared that the two missing people could be among the debris. The heavy rain also led to the closure of local roads and left 700 homes without electricity, Tuscany president Eugenio Giani wrote in a Facebook post on Monday night, adding that the area had not seen such intense bad weather since 1928.
In an update today he stated: “There are currently two missing and all night the work of our Tuscany Civil Protection system has continued with volunteers and technical teams, local authorities staff, firefighters and police forces. Thanks to all the people involved in the rescue.
“Between Castagneto Carducci, San Vincenzo, Monteverdi Marittimo and Montecatini Val di Cecina, up to 226mm of rain fell in six hours, more than average rainfall in the rainiest month. Since the weather reports appeared, there has never been such an intense disturbance in the area.” Last week, Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region was battered by floods, forcing more than 1,000 people from their homes.
