Baku-APA. An elderly couple was killed by a landslide caused by torrential rains in northern Italy on Tuesday, local reports said, APA reports quoting XInhua.
Rescue teams found Carlo Armenise, 73, and his wife Franca Iaccino, 69, buried in the mud in front of their house near the coastal city of Genoa, the capital of Liguria region, according to Il Secolo XIX, a local newspaper.
The two citizens had reportedly attempted to run for their lives.
Heavy rainfall over the past days has caused major damage to Genoa and surrounding villages, some of which remained without electricity and drinking water.
In some areas as much as 20 cm of rain fell in 12 hours, with rivers busting their banks and flooding roads and disrupting rail lines. Many families had to leave their homes.
ANSA news agency said that firefighters saved dozens of people trapped in the mudslides, including a pregnant woman, while the Italian army was at work to clear debris.
One man was killed also in Genoa last month following a similar wave of bad weather. In 2011 heavy rains caused six deaths in the same city.
"We need money immediately, 150-200 million euros (187-249 million U.S. dollars), otherwise we will not manage to raise this region again," Liguria regional president Claudio Burlando was quoted by local media as saying.
Later on Tuesday, Italian Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti stressed that he was committed to stop frequent building sanctions, which have triggered tragedies in Liguria and other regions of Italy.
"There will not be building sanctions in Italy anymore, because they are attempted homicides against our territory's safeguard," he promised.
Experts have repeatedly underlined how the laws of nature have often been ignored in favor of soil consumption in a country where nearly 6,000 out of 8,000 municipalities face hydro-geological risks and more than 6 million citizens are exposed to flooding.
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