When a severe storm hit the largest island in the Gulf of Naples early on Saturday morning, it caused serious damage, especially in the coastal towns of Casamicciola and Lacco Ameno. Rescue workers have since recovered two bodies. The Italian government declares a state of emergency.
After a severe landslide on the Italian island of Ischia with one confirmed fatality and several missing, the Italian government has declared a state of emergency for the island. After an extraordinary meeting of the government, a first tranche of aid amounting to two million euros was released, said Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci. Rescue workers have also discovered a child’s body. The responsible prefecture in Naples confirmed that it was a girl between the ages of five and six. This increases the death toll to two. This Sunday, more than 200 emergency services were looking for other missing people on site. Heavy rain triggered the landslide in the north of the island off Naples early on Saturday morning.
The mud and debris poured through the small town of Casamicciola Terme, penetrated at least one house and tore several cars into the sea, as reported by the media and rescue workers. Two people were rescued from their car that was washed into the sea. According to the authorities, the body of a 31-year-old woman was later recovered. Hundreds of volunteers were busy in knee-deep mud cleaning up the community’s streets. Scattered about the site were the remains of wrecked vehicles that had crushed debris and mud. Excavators tried to clear house and business entrances and cars.
The Ansa news agency spoke on Saturday of around 30 families who were trapped in their homes by the mud, without electricity and water. The access to her quarter was therefore blocked by mud and debris. Persistent rain and strong winds hampered the work of the rescue teams; Reinforcements from Naples were also delayed on Saturday because of the storm. It’s a painful situation, if only because of the missing people, said 45-year-old Salvatore Lorini on site. “It’s an island here and even if we don’t really all know each other – it’s almost like that, at least by sight,” explained Lorini, who was born and lives on Ischia.
He is currently busy cleaning his mother-in-law’s shop. A little more prevention could have saved lives, said Lorini, who wants an early warning system for landslides that works similar to tsunami warning buoys. The small spa town of Casamicciola Terme, with around 8,000 inhabitants, was badly damaged by an earthquake in 2017, and two people died at the time. At the end of the 19th century, a strong earthquake had completely destroyed the place.