Italy, Piedmont to ask state of emergency for bad weather

Turin, November 24 - Piedmont Governor Sergio Chaimparino said Thursday the region would ask the government to declare a state of emergency after bad weather caused extensive flooding in the northwestern Italian region. "We will ask for a state of emergency, starting from the Tanaro Valley, where people have been evacuated and shops, factories and fields flooded," he said. "The damage is already clear, the situation is very critical".

   Flooding in Piedmont is worse than the 1994 flood that killed 44 people but the damage has been "mitigated" by action taken since that disaster, Chiamparino said."Rainfall has been intense (in the Tanaro Valley) but the situation has actually been better (than 1994) thanks to intervention taken in the meantime. That tragedy taught us a lesson: the river (Tanaro) bed is cleaner, there are no longer material down there and we have not seen the dam-effect on the bridges which have, for now, held". As well as the 44 victims, the 1994 flood left 2,000 homeless and caused over $10 billion of damage in all.

The Po river broke its banks in Turin Thursday, flooding the city centre in the Murazzi area, the civil protection department said. The level of Italy's biggest river is under observation at other points where it is nearing a breach, it said. Mayor Chiara Appendino has banned pedestrians and cars from the area.

Premier Matteo Renzi said he would not be attending a Yes campaign event for the December 4 Constitutional reform referendum in Turin on Thursday evening on grounds those affected by major flooding in the northern Piedmont region should have priority. "Now priority must go to the civil protection department and the population that is anxious about the bad weather," Renzi wrote in a post on Facebook.

(ANSA)