Damage across southern Italy

Heavy rain, flooding and landslides have struck several regions of southern Italy. In Campania, rain has persisted since Thursday, 8 October, and the Naples fire brigade had carried out 150 interventions in two days as of Saturday, mostly for flooding, water damage and structural collapses. In Sicily, about ten families remain displaced after waterspouts in the Trapani area. In Bari, heavy rain flooded the basilica of San Nicola. In Lazio, the coastal municipalities of Anzio and Nettuno have asked for a state of calamity. Schools in Salento are closed, and Lecce mayor Adriana Poli Bortone ordered all city schools shut on Saturday because of forecast storms.

Lipari and Calabria

On the island of Lipari, the Ponte and Valle streams overflowed, carrying debris and mud onto the beach and into the sea. Dozens of homes were flooded, cars were stuck in the mud and mud covered many streets. Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies Nello Musumeci said he is following the situation closely.

“I am in constant contact with the mayor of Lipari and the prefect of Messina in order to have an updated picture of the situation.”

In Calabria, rain and storms have hit the entire region, and the most critical situation is in Melito di Porto Salvo, in the Reggio Calabria area, where a cloudburst struck. Mayor Tito Nastasi described the town's condition in stark terms and asked for a state of natural disaster.

“The town is on its knees. There has been a cloudburst, the cars reached the sea and walls have collapsed. We are without roads. I officially request the state of natural disaster.”

Naples and Campania

The most visible damage in Naples came in the Mergellina area, where a landslide on Via Fedro on Friday evening forced the precautionary evacuation of three apartments and threatened trees above the railway line of a nearby metro station. Inside the Cardarelli hospital, a centuries-old pine collapsed near one of the exits, and the hospital said it had secured the area and kept normal traffic flowing inside the complex. In the Materdei district, a sinkhole about five metres in diameter opened, and a passing car fell into it; its young driver was unhurt. In Giugliano in Campania, the Domitiana state road was flooded again between Varcaturo and Lago Patria, with most of the water coming from the municipal Via Ripuaria, and Anas crews worked overnight with tankers to clear it. The airport at Naples Capodichino and the terminal at the port's Stazione Marittima also flooded.

In Castellammare di Stabia, rocks fell onto the SS145 Sorrentina at the exit of the Pozzano tunnel toward Vico Equense, and alternating single-lane traffic was kept as a precaution.

Warnings, cause and heritage

Campania's orange alert for zones 1 and 3 ran until 15:00 Saturday, with yellow alerts elsewhere in the region. The regional civil protection bulletin issued at 10:25 extends a yellow alert for localised hydrogeological risk across the entire region until 15:00 on Sunday, 11 October. The afternoon is expected to stay unstable with showers and moderate storms on the coast, and Sunday is to bring clearing skies and northerly winds. The storms are linked to the high temperature of the Mediterranean surface, which reached its level because of heat accumulated over the summer months.

“This energy reserve in the form of vapour and heat favours the development of organised storm systems, locally intense rainfall and even tornadoes.”

Undersecretary of Culture Lucia Borgonzoni said the heritage in areas hit by the bad weather is being monitored, with one damage episode so far, at the Castro archaeological site in the province of Lecce.

“The condition of the heritage present in the national territory that is located in areas hit by bad weather is being monitored. At the moment there is a single episode of damage, in the archaeological area of Castro.”