Red Alert in Piedmont as Extreme Weather Wreaks Havoc Across Northern Italy

Piedmont: Piedmont was on red alert on Thursday as a wave of extreme weather continued to batter Italy, hitting the north of the country especially hard. Torrential rain and gales were causing massive disruption with flooding affecting traffic and rail services.

According to Ansa News Agency, in Turin, the city closed access to the Murazzi del Po riverbank area as a precautionary measure, while trains from Biella railway station have been suspended. Additionally, the A5 Turin-Aosta highway was closed due to a rise in the level of the Dora Baltea river. The Gran San Bernardo tunnel faced closure due to snow in Valle d’Aosta, and the Sesia river burst its banks in Lombardy, causing flooding in the province of Pavia.

Milan responded to the severe weather by closing its city parks due to heavy rain and strong winds. The capital city, Rome, saw the fire brigade responding to over 100 calls as the extreme weather shook trees and sent branches tumbling.

More intense rain, accompanied by winds of over 100 km/h, is forecast for Thursday, with the weather expected to improve on Friday and Saturday. “I started my day at the Piedmont Civil Protection headquarters in Turin, where we have had our operations centre open 24 hours a day since yesterday,” said Piedmont Governor Alberto Cirio. He expressed hope that the situation would soon improve, stating, “We are expecting the extremely critical situation to last three or four hours more, but, at the moment, no one has been injured. We hope this will continue. We expect the emergency to be over by early afternoon.”