Several hours of extraordinary rainfall triggered flooding across a stretch of central Italy early Friday and left at least 10 dead, with several others missing, according to authorities.
As the rainfall stopped, rescue crews scrambled through mud and around fallen trees to look for survivors.
Some people had taken refuge on rooftops or held onto branches amid the flooding.
Italian media reported several searing accounts, including a mother and daughter who were believed to have been swept away while getting out of their car.
“All citizens are ordered to not leave their homes and go to higher floors,” one hard-hit town wrote in an all-caps bulletin on Facebook as the high water surged.
While Italy has had deadlier floods over the decades, the event marked yet another example of extreme weather, following a record drought that had sapped lakes and rivers and devastated crops.
Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Italy’s civil protection department, said the flooded area over a matter of hours saw “about one-third of the rainfall you’d usually get in a year.”
“There were moments of terror with truly extraordinary levels of water,” Curcio said.
