At least six people have died in severe flooding in Tuscany, central Italy and three in Portugal, bringing to 15 the provisional death toll across western Europe from the torrential rain and record winds brought by Storm Ciarán.
There had been fears the River Arno could flood the historic city of Florence after several nearby towns were swamped, but Giani said the high water point had passed at mid-morning without major incident.
In Prato, a city near Florence, where two people, both also elderly, are reported to have died, the mayor, Matteo Biffoni, said the damage caused by the storm was “a blow to the stomach and makes you want to cry”.
“After a night of devastation we will roll up our sleeves to clean and try to bring our city back to normal,” the mayor told local journalists.
People were being evacuated from their homes in rubber dinghies in the Seano, Quarrata and Campi Bisenzio areas of Tuscany, while schools were closed there, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and in Veneto, local media reported.
Meanwhile in Spain, at least 800 people around the coastal town of Gandia in Valencia were evacuated after a wildfire broke out and spread rapidly overnight amid record-breaking winds, officials said on Friday.
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