ROME (AP) – Rescue crews in an Italian Alpine city searched yesterday for any possible missing people and clearing mud-caked roads after a mountain mudslide sent water and debris pouring into town, bursting riverbanks. Authorities said all residents were accounted for.
The streets of Bardonecchia, a city near Turin in the Val di Susa mountain valley, were coated in thick gray mud following the violent mudslides late on Sunday.
Witness video showed a huge wave of dirt and debris toppling a gate and residents running away as the muck rushed down a city street; other videos showed thick mud coursing through the river banks that pass through town. Piedmont regional governor Alberto Cirio said there were no victims and that five people initially believed to be missing had been accounted for.
In a Facebook post, Cirio said damage was significant and that he had already reached out to the national government for help.
Civil protection crews were en route to remove the debris from roads and to check the hydrological situation of the Frejus River, which was primarily involved, he wrote.
In a social media post, firefighters said crews had rescued six people overnight from an overturned camper.
