UNWETTERS IN ISCHIA - At least one person dead

A mudslide goes off during a bad storm on the Italian island of Ischia on Saturday. At least eleven people die, one person is still missing. The rescue teams are working at full speed.

The destruction comes with tremendous force, a mixture of mud and debris. The force is so strong that the avalanche sweeps buses, houses, cars into the sea. Debris and rubble in the streets, roads, vehicles and houses in the mud. Early Saturday morning in the coastal town of Casamicciola in the north of Ischia, a horror storm. About 8,000 people live here. At least 11 of them did not survive the storm.

Two families wiped out

Among the dead are three siblings (two boys, †15, †11 and a girl, †6) and their parents. Their house does not survive the mudslide. So did the young couple and their three-week-old baby. In 2017, the couple had to leave their old home after an earthquake. The little family does not survive the landslide. The rescuers find two more dead women (31 and 58) during the rescue work.

Mud masses destroy houses in which some of the missing people are said to be. The island fire brigade is in full operation, with 70 helpers on the scene. At the last moment, the firefighters rescue two people who are swept into the sea by the avalanche in their car. Reinforcements from the mainland cannot land at first because of the bad weather, but have arrived in the meantime, including 40 fire engines and recovery machines alone. Wind force 11 and heavy rain make the work difficult at times.

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Several missing persons, including a woman and her infant, have already been found and are receiving medical care. The authorities are currently evacuating people from the trapped flats and houses.

Italy's head of government, Giorgia Meloni, thanks the rescue workers for their efforts, according to her office in Rome. She is in contact with the local authorities. The mayor of Ischia, Enzo Ferrandino, had already announced on Friday that schools, parks and cemeteries would be closed on Saturday because of the storm.

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In the past, Casamicciola was hit by natural disasters several times. On 28 July 1883, an earthquake almost completely destroyed the town, killing 1800 people. During an earthquake on 21 August 2017, several houses and a church collapsed.