Piedmont was on red alert on Thursday
as a wave of extreme weather continued to batter Italy, hitting
the north of the country especially hard.
Torrential rain and gales were causing massive disruption with
flooding affecting traffic and rail services.
In Turin the city closed access to the Murazzi del Po riverbank
area as a precautionary measure, while trains from Biella
railway station have been suspended and the A5 Turin-Aosta
highway has been closed due to a rise in the level of the Dora
Baltea river.
The Gran San Bernardo tunnel was closed due to snow in Valle
d'Aosta and the Sesia river burst in banks in Lombardy, causing
flooding in the province of Pavia.
Milan closed its city parks due to heavy rain and strong winds.
The fire brigade responded to over 100 calls in Rome as the
extreme weather shook trees and sent branches tumbling.
More intense rain, accompanied by winds of over 100 km/h, is
forecast for Thursday, with the weather expected to improve on
Friday and Saturday.
"I started my day at the Piedmont Civil Protection headquarters
in Turin, where we have had our operations centre open 24 hours
a day since yesterday," said Piedmont Governor Alberto Cirio.
"We are expecting the extremely critical situation to last three
or four hours more, but, at the moment, no one has been injured.
"We hope this will continue.
"We expect the emergency to be over by early afternoon".
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