Bad weather, floods in Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont. In Cervinia 'damage in the millions'

In Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, evacuation operations are under way for 120 people stranded in the Alpe Veglia areaIn Piedmont, on the other hand, there are dozens of evacuees in the Alpine valleys of the Turin area. The villages of Noasca and Ceresole Reale, in the upper Orco Valley (Turin), have been isolated since yesterday due to landslides. Cloudbursts also in Switzerland, where several people are missing in the Ticino canton due to floods, landslides and mudslides.

"Last night, after the situation worsened, the Gran Paradiso campsite was evacuated. In our hotel we took in the evacuees, those we could, about 30 people'. This was said by Christine Cavagnet, who with her family runs the Herbetet hotel in Valnontey, a hamlet of Cogne among the hardest hit by yesterday's flooding. The hotelier was not in Cogne last night and, when the only link road to the village was closed due to a landslide, around 8pm, she was unable to return. He is now on his way back to the village by helicopter, the only means of reaching it at the moment.

"A dramatically destructive event": this is how the mayor of Quarona (Vercelli) and president of the Unione montana della Valsesia, Francesco Pietrasanta, comments on the cloudburst that hit the area. 'It does not seem,' he emphasises, 'that there are any casualties, but there is a lot of damage. A hug to all the communities involved'. There were landslides and damage to bridges in the affected area. Some 20 campers were isolated.

"We suffered extensive damage, especially to the cliffs of the waterfall, due to the water bomb and landslides. The situation is improving and we will be able to clear the road in a few hours to allow the people stuck here to leave the village'. Thus the mayor of Noasca, the village in the province of Turin heavily hit by the bad weather.

Significant damage was also recorded on the communal road in Valnontey, where both the electricity grid and the aqueduct are out of action. In the Cogne Valley, the regional administration announced, "technical inspections are underway to further verify the damage caused by the bad weather and to assess the interventions to be activated". Due to the flooding of the Dora Baltea river, there were some overflows.

In Montjovet, two families were evacuated from their lodgings and climbed to the upper floors. In Issogne, the river overflowed between the villages of Favà and Fleuran, and some inhabitants were moved upstairs. The state road 26 is currently closed in sections in Bard, Donnas and Champdepraz and is being considered for reopening.

In Valtournenche, the overflow of the Marmore torrent caused extensive damage in the centre of Cervinia, also flooding some shops. Work is in progress to unblock the torrent and for an initial intervention in the village. Closed during the night, the regional road to the resort was reopened on the morning of Sunday, 30 June.

Further down in the same valley, in Antey-Saint-André, a campsite was evacuated and guests were distributed among various accommodation facilities. During the night, monitoring and rescue activities continued, involving Civil Protection, the Valle d'Aosta Fire Brigade, the Aosta Valley Forestry Corps, 118, the Valle d'Aosta Mountain Rescue Service and the police, as well as the personnel and administrations of the municipalities concerned.