Weather alert on Sicily and Calabria, schools closed in various provinces

Cars overwhelmed by mud in Scordia: fear for an elderly couple – Huge damage due to bad weather that hit eastern Sicily. In particular in Scordia, in the Catanese area, several cars were dragged away by the fury of the water that transformed the streets into flooding rivers. The Fire Brigade rescued several motorists blocked by a flood of water and mud. Moments of fear for an elderly couple who were missing. Their car had been run over by the river of mud but they were found in fair condition by the firefighters. The husband was tracked first and then the wife. The two were taken in an ambulance to the hospital for medical checks. Almost 150 mm of rain fell in the area, an amount that is usually recorded over a few months.

Civil protection: “It’s red alert” – “There is a very strong disturbance in Sicily – says Salvatore Cocina, director of regional civil protection – a storm cell that has already hit Pantelleria and is preparing to reach the areas of Agrigento and Nisseno. Another one. storm cell has already discharged a large amount of rain between Palagonia, Scordia, Militello, Francofonte, causing landslides and flooding and damage to property but fortunately without any injuries. Another cell invests the area of ​​Giarre. The situation is evolving and we expect further phenomena. We are on red alert and over one hundred municipal operational centers are open which are monitoring the situation “.

Red alert in Catania, damage and closed schools – Numerous inconveniences due to bad weather in Sicily, especially in the eastern area, with the Civil Protection which raised the alert level from orange to red. The mayor of Catania Salvo Pogliese has ordered the closure of public and private schools of all levels in the city for Monday 25 October and with immediate effect of the municipal parks and cemeteries. Many calls to the Fire Brigade Operations Room of the Provincial Command of Catania due to rain and strong wind. Most of the rescue interventions concern trees and downed poles, detachment of plaster, unsafe cornices and water infiltrations. The areas most affected are those south of the Etna capital.

Closed schools in Syracuse, Catania and Sciacca – Boys and children at home also in Syracuse. The mayor Francesco Italia, with an ordinance, ordered the closure of all schools “in agreement with the mayors of the province and with a union ordinance linked to the adverse weather conditions foreseen in these hours, so it is necessary to check the viability of the institutes. before making them usable again “. Even in Catania, schools will remain closed, as announced by the mayor, Salvo Pogliese. “The impossibility of predicting exactly the time and moment in which the peak of the violent phenomena announced will take place requires all of us the utmost caution, for the good of our boys and girls, school workers and the entire teaching staff” explains the mayor of Catania on his social page. “The closure will make – adds Pogliese – the traffic more manageable and will allow the Civil Protection to intervene also in a preventive function, on the territory and precisely with the monitoring of the school buildings most at risk”. Even the mayor of Sciacca, in the Agrigento area, Francesca Valenti, has ordered the closure of the schools of the municipality.