Extreme weather continues in Italy

A vehicle drives through a flooded street after thunderstorms in Milan, Italy, on July 25, 2023. (Str/Xinhua)

Just days after a blistering heatwave, Italy is now experiencing a significant drop in temperatures with strong winds and heavy rains that cause landslides, mudslides and flood warnings.

ROME, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) — Train services between France and Italy were temporarily halted on Monday after a huge rockslide that blocked access to a series of tunnels. In the mountainous regions of Italy, landslides forced the evacuation of dozens of people.

Just days after a blistering heatwave, Italy is now experiencing a significant drop in temperatures with strong winds and heavy rains that cause landslides, mudslides and flood warnings.

According to local media, mudslides forced the evacuation of around 70 people near the Alpine city of Cortina d’Ampezzo, and a dozen others had to be taken to safety after flooding in the Valtellina area of Lombardy north of Milan. Roads were closed, and flood warnings were issued across northern Italy, including in and around the cities of Genoa, Milan, Turin and Verona.

Tourists refresh themselves with the water from a fountain near the Pantheon in Rome, Italy, on July 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)

In Venice, a high-tech anti-flood system was used this year, as the city faced the risk of flooding in August. Normally, the flood season in that part of the country begins in October. All this comes just days after the end of the country’s third major heatwave of the summer. Last Friday, the Ministry of Health said that 19 of the country’s 27 largest cities were under extreme heat warning, with high temperatures posing health threats even to young and healthy individuals.

Over the weekend, a cold weather system brought lower temperatures to the country. On Monday, only one city was under “red alert.”

The train service that connects Italy’s Piedmont region with France’s Alpine Savoy region across the Alps was closed on Monday due to a rockslide in France’s Maurienne Valley on Sunday, and could remain closed for days or even a week, according to train operators in both countries.

Firefighters remove a broken branch after thunderstorms in Milan, Italy, on July 25, 2023. (Str/Xinhua)

Temperatures were dropping in southern Italy on Monday, but without the rain that pelted much of the rest of the country. After weeks of drought, fire risks remained and there were reports of new wildfires around Sicilia’s capital Palermo and in the rural parts of the island of Sardinia. There were no reports of serious injuries from the latest blazes, though in Sardinia the electricity transmission network was damaged, causing brief outages.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)