Officials in a popular vacation town in the Italian Alps are now organizing a major cleanup job and searching for any possible missing people after a mountain mudslide came barreling through over the weekend. The AP reports that the streets of Bardonecchia are now coated in mud and debris after Sunday's "violent" mudslide, which also flooded local riverbanks. So far, only one person has reportedly suffered minor injuries, per ANSA. Five people were originally counted as missing, but in a Facebook post, Alberto Cirio, the governor of Italy's Piedmont region, said he'd spoken to the mayor of Bardonecchia and that those five people have since "been traced."
The damage to Bardonecchia, however, is "very significant," he added. Per ANSA, a hotel and the local police station were severely damaged, as were nearby bridges, cutting off the town's access to everything but emergency services. The news agency adds "the entire local fleet of police cars has been destroyed," and that about 120 people have been displaced. The AP describes a chaotic scene as the mudslide swept through town, with witness video showing residents running as "a huge wave of dirt and debris ... rushed down a city street."
In one big save, firefighters were credited with rescuing six people trapped in a camper that was carried downstream by the floodwaters. Right as the mud hit, the town of 3,000 had been celebrating a local festival, per Bardonecchia's tourism agency. Cirio noted in his statement that civil protection crews were on their way to help clear the muck, and that experts would be checking out the "hydrogeological situation" of a local river. The supply of gas has also been turned off to keep explosions at bay. (More Italy stories.)
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