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Flooding causes deaths, appeals for state of emergency [ANSA](ANSA Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) (ANSA) - Rome, October 15 - Towns in northern Italy and the Maremma area in Tuscany continue to suffer on Wednesday from damage caused by heavy rains and subsequent flooding that caused three deaths. Lorella Querel, 73, was swept away by a landslide while walking on the seaside road from Muggia to Lazzaretto in the province of Trieste in northeastern Italy. Meanwhile, elderly sisters Graziella and Marisa Carletti drowned after their car was swept away by the Elsa river and dragged for more than one kilometer by mud and flood water in Manciano, a Tuscan town an hour's drive southeast of Grosseto. Rescue workers in Grosseto found four other abandoned cars and were able to locate all four owners alive, one of whom had climbed a tree to escape the flood waters. Grosseto Prosecutor Francesco Verusio on Wednesday opened an investigation into the Carletti sisters' deaths, a situation that Verusio said is analagous to the deaths of three men who were killed in a 2012 flood in the area when their car was swept away. While that case was archived, Verusio said that the Carletti sisters' case is different because the 2012 event was "unpredictable" while the current situation wasn't. Parma's telecommunications have been almost fully restored on Wednesday, after a two-day communications black-out to customers of state telecommunications operator Telecom, as a result of flooding to a Telecom building, which caused more than 1 million euros in damage. Parma Mayor Federico Pizzarotti and Vice Minister of Agriculture Andrea Olivero both called for the government to declare a state of emergency due to natural disaster. "The government has to take note of an emergency reality that has been highlighted more than once," Olivero said. Parma's former provincial assessor for transport, Andrea Fellini, said on Wednesday that he wrote to the government on August 4 asking for assistance and highlighting the more than 18 million euros of damage the province had already suffered since the beginning of 2014 as a result of flooding. Fellini said his letter, addressed to three ministers as well as Emilia-Romagna regional assessor Paola Gazzolo, never received a response. The Italian Army is assisting efforts in both Parma and Alessandria, a town an hour southeast of Turin. The police department in Alessandria received over 2,200 calls for assistance in the 24 hours between October 13 and 14. (c) 2014 ANSA Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |