Man Found Dead After Storm Hits Ostuni in Southern Italy

Brindisi: Rescuers on Friday found the body of a 63-year-old man who was swept away when a violent storm hit the town of Ostuni, in the southern province of Brindisi, late on Thursday, making him the latest in a series of recent victims of extreme weather in Italy.

According to Ansa News Agency, a fire brigade’s helicopter spotted the body of Oronzo Epifani in vegetation by a canal leading to the sea, a few hundred metres from where his car was found, early on Friday after a search of over 12 hours. Rescuers have launched an operation to recover the corpse.

A woman is missing, feared dead, after being swept away by flash floods caused by torrential rain in the Sicilian town of Favara on Wednesday. Last week a female German tourist died after being swept away by flash floods while camping in Spigno Monferrato, in the northern province of Alessandra.

Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is making extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, supercharged storms and
flooding more frequent and more intense. Although there are many sources of the greenhouse gases that are causing global heating, the main driver is the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, sales of which generate huge profits for the world’s energy giants.