Homes threatened as landslide hits southern Italy town; 500 evacuated
About 500 residents were evacuated after a landslide tore through part of the Italian town of Niscemi, damaging a key access road and raising fears the area could be cut off, according to officials.
The landslide was reported Sunday in the Sante Croci neighborhood of Niscemi, a town in Sicily, Italy’s largest island, according to the regional civil protection agency.
Authorities said the slope failure occurred near the Benefizio stream and affected a section of Provincial Road SP10, one of the main links between the area and the town center. The ground collapse was estimated at about 20 feet (six meters).
As a precaution, civil protection officials ordered evacuations in areas considered at risk, affecting at least 500 people. Regional authorities said hundreds of cots were being transported from Palermo, Sicily’s capital, to set up temporary accommodation for evacuees at the Pio La Torre sports complex.
Sicily’s regional president, Renato Schifani, said he was in close contact with local officials and warned that the landslide risked isolating the area.
The landslide affected a residential area along a steep slope, cracking road surfaces and leaving some homes close to the edge of the collapse.
Italy’s ANSA news agency reported that heavy rainfall in the region worsened ground conditions and contributed to the landslide.
Authorities said geological surveys were underway to determine whether the current landslide is connected to a separate slope failure reported on January 16 in another nearby area that also damaged a provincial road.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
