At least eight people are feared dead and more than a dozen missing after landslides tore through the Italian island of Ischia.
According to report, Italy’s national fire brigade, Vigili del Fuoco, said a cloudburst – a short yet intense rainstorm – struck the paradise island off the coast of Naples during its rainy season.
Infrastructure and transport minister Matteo Salvini said eight people had died in the landslide, according to the Ansa news agency.
Speaking at the opening of a new subway in Milan, he told reporters: ‘From north to south, this country needs to be protected because it is the most beautiful country in the world.’
Around 13 people are believed to be missing in Ischia, among a family with a newborn child and a 25-year-old living in two houses in the northern Casamicciola Terme comune.
Alarming photos show how the landslide ripped through houses on via Celario, tearing down buildings and turning the once luscious cliffside into muddy rubble.
Giacomo Pascale, the mayor of the neighbouring commune Lacco Ameno, said at least 30 families in the area are trapped without water or electiricty.
Rescue workers are struggling to reach some 100 people as the street via Santa Barbara is clogged with mud, boulders and debris.
Areas heavily impacted by the landslide are still unreachable to rescue workers.
This includes a family who lives near the Pizza Maio town square, the agency understands.
The fire brigade tweeted that ‘searches are underway for possible missing persons, while a car was dragged into the sea,’ adding that two people have been rescued.
Reinforcements from Naples have been sent to the scene.
Pascale has issued a red weather alert and urged residents to stay at home.
He wrote on Instagram: ‘Considering the severe bad weather and the damage that has occurred on our Island, as indicated by the Prefecture of Naples, we invite citizens NOT to leave their homes and therefore to avoid travel on the territory.’
Following a night of rainfall, the landslide happened at around 5am local time, with a torrent of mud, docks and debris crashing into houses and buildings.
Photographs showed how overflowing streams had carried away several now crumpled cars and uprooted trees and utility poles.
People trapped by mud inside the Hotel Terme Manzi have been left without electricity.