Italy flood deaths rise to 13 as thousands wait to come home

LUGO, Italy: The death toll from floods that devastated an area of northeastern Italy rose to 13 on Thursday after the bodies of two more people were found, authorities told AFP.

The grim discovery came as rescue workers searched for anyone still trapped by floodwaters in the Emilia Romagna region, after downpours devastated homes and farms. The latest victims were two farmers in their 70s who may have been electrocuted while trying to move a fridge inside a flooded house, Italian media reported.

With 10,000 people already displaced, authorities in Ravenna issued an immediate evacuation order early Thursday morning for three more villages threatened by floods. “There is a hole in the dike, so if it were to start raining again... we fear that the water could rise again, this is our biggest fear,” Andrea Ancherani, a resident of Bagnara di Romagna near Imola, told AFP.

Locals waded through dirty water or reclaimed what they could from sodden houses in towns across the wealthy region, famed for its historic cities and prized gastronomy. Authorities said electricity had been partly restored, but some 27,000 people were still in the dark.

Nearly two dozen rivers and streams flooded across the southeast of the low-lying region following heavy rain earlier this week, submerging entire neighbourhoods and farmland, and damaging 400 roads.