Northern Italy storm floods Milan as Lake Como bursts its banks

Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Heavy rain and strong winds in Northern Italy on Tuesday flooded parts of Milan and caused Lake Como and the Seveso River to burst their banks.

The violent storm flooded a number of waterside bars at the popular tourist area at Lake Como, as violent winds toppled trees and lines, cutting off power.

"During the night a rainstorm unloaded a big amount of water, with peaks of 40 millimeters or 1.6 inches per hour, and at 5:50 the River Seveso overflowed," said Marco Granelli, a Milan safety counselor.

Parts of Milan were flooded and inaccessible as water gushed down stairs into underground train stations. Civil protection authorities pumped out water from flooded buildings and set up mobile barriers.

While the rain was heaviest in Northern Italy, Tuscany to the south also experienced floods, downed trees and landslides in a rain storm that in just 24 hours exceeded the monthly average rainfall for this time of year.

Venice, which experiences regular flooding due to higher tides associated with the full moon, managed to escape Tuesday's flooding despite strong winds in the Adriatic Sea pushing water into the city.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro credited the MOSE system of 78 floodgates, which was installed in 2020, with keeping the water at bay.

"The system MOSE was active all night and will remain so until 1p.m. today!" Brugnaro wrote earlier Tuesday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "Thanks to all the technicians and workers at work for its operation!"

Most of Italy is under red alert through Wednesday with rain expected to fall throughout the rest of the week.

After experiencing drought, Tuesday's storm is not Italy's first severe flooding this year. At least 14 people were killed in May as the country saw its worst flooding in a century. The historic flood caused 23 rivers to overflow their banks, along with 280 landslides in the northern Emilia-Romagna region.