Floods, Mudslides hit Italy, France, Belgium: reports
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods, Mudslides hit Italy, France, Belgium: reports*
ROME, May 30 (AFP) May 30, 2008
Flooding and mudslides left at least two people dead in northern Italy
after heavy rains that also hit France and Belgium, reports said, with
dangerous weather likely to continue on Friday.
A mudslide in Villar Pelice near the northern Italian city of Turin
swept away a house, killing an old man inside it, civil protection
authorities said. A second person was found dead in a car also caught up
in the mudslide.
A mother and her child who lived in the building were reported missing.
Elsewhere in the area, fifty patients were evacuated from a hospital in
Turin.
The RAI television channel showed pictures of nearby bridges and roads
blocked.
"It is just the beginning of the disturbances which may continue
tomorrow," the head of the civil protection service Guido Bertolaso said
on Thursday.
In France the SNCF train operator closed lines overnight between Turin
and Lyon, southeastern France, to avoid accidents after heavy rains in
the region.
Road tunnels linking France and Italy were closed to trucks for several
hours after parts were affected by a mudslide. Several highways were
blocked or closed for safety in the districts of Savoie and Isere, local
authorities said.
In Corsica two hotels were evacuated overnight due to flooding,
firefighters said.
Further north meanwhile, streets were turned to rivers of mud in the
eastern Belgian city of Liege after a violent storm, media reports said,
but no casualties were reported.
Belgian television pictures showed flooded houses and cars swept along
in the mud.