One missing, dozens stranded as floods lash Italy

Rome, Sep 7 (IANS) A person has gone missing, presumed dead, while dozens of others were stranded in floods as heavy storms battered northern Italy.

The storms in the neighbouring regions of Piedmont, which includes the industrial city of Turin, and Lombardy, which includes Italy's financial and fashion capital of Milan, damaged roads and collapsed bridges as several rivers burst through their banks.

A spokesman for the civil protection service in Piedmont told Xinhua news agency that workers continue to search for a 58-year-old man who was pulled off his tractor in a flash flood on Thursday.

The tractor was found after being flipped onto its side, but the man had not been seen since.

Other officials quoted in local media said the man was presumed dead, but the spokesman who briefed Xinhua said late on Friday that efforts were still officially classified as a "search and rescue operation."

At least two groups of people totalling around 50 individuals were safe but stranded on high ground in flooded areas in Piedmont, authorities said.

Rescue workers were unable to transfer them due to difficulties related to the severe weather.

In Lombardy, the key M2 highway link was forced to close for several hours due to flooding, and media reports said that Radio Popolare, a Milan-area radio station, went off the air for the first time in its nearly 50-year history after its transmission facility was flooded. A courthouse in Milan was also flooded, forcing employees to be evacuated.

While the storms and flooding hit the northern part of the country in recent days, the southern part of Italy and its two island regions, Sicily and Sardinia, continue to struggle with hot weather and an extended drought, which has threatened water supplies.

This is the third consecutive year that Italy has been hit hard by lengthy periods of extreme weather, ranging from record-setting heatwaves and drought to flash floods and hailstorms.

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