Bad weather, weather alert today Sicily and Calabria: we are looking for a missing woman

Bad weather red alert in Sicily and Calabria. There are 250 interventions by the firefighters in Catania, 140 in Reggio Calabria, 52 in Cosenza, 49 in Vibo Valentia, over 300 firefighters at work, according to the Twitter profile. In the countryside of Lentini, the search for the 61-year-old woman who has been missing for two days in the Ogliastro district continues. The body of her husband, a 67-year-old retired farmer, was found yesterday in a citrus grove far from the place where they were last seen. The operations are attended by firefighters, carabinieri and civil protection volunteers. In Reggio Calabria, due to the flooding of the ‘La Verde’ river, the State Road 106 ‘Jonica’ is provisionally closed to traffic in both directions at km 75,900, in the locality of Sant’Anna. The staff of Anas and the police, Anas explains in a note, are on site to manage the event and to allow the reopening of the section as soon as possible. Sicily and Calabria, the weather forecasts in Sicily are violent thunderstorms and gale force winds are expected, which will mainly affect the eastern areas of the island. Precipitation, warns the Civil Protection, could cause hydrogeological and hydraulic criticalities. Strong storm gusts are expected on the Ionian coasts of the region, with possible storm surges. The bad weather in the last 24 hours has also affected the activity of the Catania airport. In many municipalities, lessons are stopped and schools are closed. Problems for various road arteries, with interventions on the 385 ‘Di Palagonia’ state road near Lentini and the 194 ‘Ragusana’ state road. Hundreds of interventions by law enforcement and firefighters to rescue families who have remained isolated and motorists in need of breakdown. The rain will be the protagonist with precipitation, predominantly of a downpour or thunderstorm, with more frequent phenomena in the central-eastern sectors. The forecasts also refer to hailstorms, with lightning and violent gusts of wind. In the rest of Sicily, orange alert, with a lower risk level. A complex picture also in Calabria, where “widespread and intense rainfall is expected, with a prevalent downpour or thunderstorm character, with particularly persistent phenomena on the ionic sectors”. These are phenomena that will be “accompanied by strong showers, local hailstorms, frequent electrical activity and strong gusts of wind”. In addition, the bulletin also foresees “gale winds, with strong gale gusts with a tendency to further temporary reinforcements on the ionic sectors”. The alert includes the risk of “storm surges along the exposed coasts”. In this context, the Municipality of Catanzaro has extended to date the ordinance for the closure of all schools of all levels and sports facilities. Where the red alert is not in effect, they are triggered in the orange and yellow alert region. The latter was also decreed for other regions: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Molise, most of Lazio.