More Flooding In Italy

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31234, 5 December 1966, Page 17

More Flooding In Italy

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) ROME, Dec. 4. Italians anxiously watched the weather today after fresh flooding caused b y torrential rains over the last 48 hours.

The rains had brought fears of a repetition of last month’s disaster in which at least 113 people died. But the rivers were receding in most danger areas and no deaths have so far been reported. Several villages about 50 miles south of Rome were isolated, and flooding reached a depth of 6ft in Vai Convento and Quercia. About 100 women and children were evacuated from the area. A landslide smashed water mains near Frosinone, 43 miles south of Rome, depriving 200,000 people in the town and 11 nearby villages of drinking water.

Floodgates in the Marmore falls near Terni, 43 miles north of Rome, were opened under pressure from the raging River Nera, which had already burst its banks. Several communities around Bologna were flooded, but

most families refused to leave their homes, and moved to the upper floors. In the low-lying Po delta, parts of which have been under water for weeks, town officials told remaining inhabitants to leave as troops and volunteers continued repairing dykes smashed by the Adriatic storms two weeks ago. In Florence, officials said that 80 per cent of the river embankment smashed by the Arno rivers on November 4 had now been repaired. Wind-whipped waves battered and flooded seaside bars and restaurants in Genoa, Italy’s biggest port. Cars parked on the waterfront were towed away and part of a main coast road collapsed. In Viterbo, near Rome, lightning shattered a church bell-tower. Roofs of nearby houses were damaged and a woman was injured. Three persons, including a six-year-old child, lost their lives in flood waters inundating villages in Slovenia, the most northerly of Jugoslavia’s six constituent republics, it was reported in Belgrade last night.

Skopje ’Quake.—A strong earthquake yesterday sent the population of Skopje into a panic and people dashed into the streets. It was the 626th earthquake since the city was destroyed in July, 1963. Skopje, Dec. 4.