A woman has been found dead and about 10 people were still missing on the southern Italian holiday island of Ischia after a landslide engulfed buildings during heavy rain on Saturday.
Torrential rain hit the port of Casamicciola Terme, one of six small towns on the island, in the early hours, triggering flooding and bringing down buildings.
"Currently, the confirmed death toll is one, a woman. Eight missing persons have been found, including a child, and there still are around 10 missing," the prefect of Naples, Claudio Palomba, told a news conference.
He said that around 100 people living close to the landslide area had been evacuated.
The island received 126 millimetres of rain in six hours, the heaviest rainfall in 20 years, according to officials.
Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said earlier during an event in Milan that eight people had been killed.
Italy's fire brigade said on Twitter that 70 firefighters were working on the island — which lies some 30 kilometres from Naples — to rescue residents from damaged buildings and search for missing people.
Gianni Capuano — an official of Italy's Civil Protection — told Sky TG24 that a young child was among the missing, adding that families in danger were being evacuated.
One family with a newborn that was previously reported missing had been located and was receiving medical care, according to the Naples prefect, Claudio Palomba.
Video from the island shows paths that the landslides had cut down slopes, leaving behind traces of mud. Streets were impassable and mayors on the island urged people to stay at home.
News agency ANSA reported that at least 10 buildings had collapsed.
The force of the mud sliding down the mountainside was strong enough to send cars and buses onto beaches and into the sea.
"There are some difficulties in the rescue operations because the weather conditions are still challenging", Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told reporters in Rome.
Ischia is a volcanic island that draws visitors to its thermal baths and picturesque, hilly coastline.
It is densely populated and statistics show it has a large number of houses that were built illegally, putting inhabitants at permanent risk from flooding and earthquakes.
In 2006, a landslide killed a father and his three daughters on the island.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was in close contact with the Civil Protection minister Nello Musumeci, the Civil Protection Department and the Campania Region "to follow the evolution of the wave of bad weather that has hit Ischia".
"The government expresses its closeness to the citizens and mayors of the municipalities on the island of Ischia and thanks the rescuers engaged in the search for the missing", she said.
Reuters/AP
