Weather

Yes there has been mega damage caused in most regions due to the heavy, persistent rain we have had of late. In this region (Northern Tuscany) there have been quite a few cases of large Frana that have washed away house, roads and parts of villages.
A timely reminder to ensure we all have decent Insurance Cover on ones House.

Wow! Did not realise it had been so bad in some places. Reports we have had from friends in Abruzzo is that the weather has been superb - 20c the other day when I looked on the web...

It's been pretty bad with Castel Vittorio the worst affected. They were completely cut off and could only get out since Tuesday. My daughter's teacher's car got washed away. My OH is going up to the farm today to survey the damage assuming the road is passable.
The road to Langan (from Pigna) has completely washed away. There was a big derailment near Albenga which means there are no trains between Ventimiglia and Savona and not likely to be for at least a month. The derailment is particularly scary as the railway is next to a sheer drop into the sea so I imagine it was pretty terrifying.
I hear Ceriana has been very badly affected too.
The motorway was closed so it was impossible to get to either France or Sanremo from Bordighera. The Via Aurelia was also closed by 2 big landslides so you couldn't go by car from Ospedaletti to Sanremo. The last one was only cleared yesterday I believe.
It's been pretty bad. Luckily in Apricale we've been fine although I understand one of the roads to Foa has been badly damaged.
The spa at Pigna was completely filled with mud and all the pools too. No idea how long that will take to clear - especially as it had just re-opened.
The river flooded in Dolceacqua but luckily not too badly so not much damage. The region is trying to get a state of natural calamity declared so they can access money from the government for repairs which will certainly run into millions.

Horrendous! Can't believe, yet again, the lack of news on this here in the UK.

Thanks for update Admin, glad to hear Apricale is ok.

SP64 is open again but for short periods due to potential landslides. 

The clean up in Pigna and Castel Vittorio will takes months apparently. The car parks are just mud baths.  Our friends had to clear their own road (road to Gouta) as they were told that there is no money available. They’ve been housebound for over a week, so no choice really but to hire tractors and other necessary equipment to remove the rubble from the provincial road.

Nothing annoys me more than NOT getting any time on the BBC or SKY when disasters like this happen in Italy. It is in the backyard of the UK, but, when a few inches of snow lands in the USA, all kinds of coverage follows !

grrrrrr!

good luck to all those that are struggling,

V

I have just read this most interesting article from Heather Jarman's blog http://www.sapori-e-saperi.com/?p=809&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=7

I agree, a most interesting article.  We are driving out on Sunday to Piazza al Serchio, hope the roads up to our house, in fact the house itself, is ok.

Please report back to us molinello.  We head off in that general direction ourselves in a few weeks time and I'm wondering if we're going to need a 4x4

Do hope everyone is ok there...

I have been looking at weather forecasts for Lucca province. It keeps on raining, although not as heavily as it was a few days ago; however, temperatures are going to drop and snow may be expected.

Well today the rain has stopped, and the Sun is out, but due to the cold we are expecting Snow above 250m on Wednesday. 

Following Flip's post, the Comune has now issued a weather alert Weather Alert Bagni di Lucca
Stay inside and keep warm!

I believe our area has had torrential rain for most of January but apparently not as bad as 2001 when cars belonging to Pigna residents were found in the river near Dolceaqua  

It hasn't been for most of January really - just 5 days but combined with the torrential rain at Christmas (again for a few days) the ground was soaked so couldn't absorb any more. Snow now all around us but not in Apricale.

A big bowl of hot peasant soup (throw into the pot anything edible that you have around) and a cup of hot chocolate and you will feel much better...

Not sure I like the sound of your peasant soup - where do you get your peasants?


8o(

I've seen quite a bit about the appalling weather that you are having to deal with up there .

The very best of luck, I'm sorry to say that the weather back here (where you were a year or so ago ?) is staggeringly GOOD !

Don't know what's going on !

Again, good luck,

V

L'uomodellaluna wrote:Not sure I like the sound of your peasant soup - where do you get your peasants?8o(

I know you are kidding... but, just in case, "peasant style" soup or stews consist of chunks of vegetables and meat (for rich peasants only) boiled together and served with thick slices of bread. Typical confort food. There are quite a lot of recipes for Italian and Tuscan peasant food if you google those words.

It seems you need to be careful about where you build your house in Italy:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547882/Watch-amazing-footage-destruction-wreaked-rockfall.html

There is a simple solution: buy a 400 year old building, which stands on bedrock and away from possible landslide areas, with 2 feet stone walls, change the windows to double-glazed PVC, improve insulation, add modern conveniences and you will not have too many worries. Of course, there is still the chance of a meteor...  
We did it, and there are quite a few properties in Italy that should fit the description. It takes time to find them, though.

I believe there’s been a lot of rain, landslides etc again in the Nervia valley. Poor old Pigna was cut off again, thankfully not for long.  More temporary traffic lights in place…when oh when will the authorities realise that short term solutions cost more in the end 

There has been terrible flooding and many landslides again in the last few weeks in Liguria and northern Tuscany at least, and many schools closed for days. I regularly look at the Nazione newspaper site for La Spezia, Sarzana + Massa Carrara. I think the rain has stopped for the moment but is likely to return. People have been killed in Genoa and Tuscany. All the damage has created a crisis. It seems to be getting more and more common in that area. I'm surprised that no-one living in that area has mentioned it on the forum. I hope no-one is experiencing too much hardship. By the way, the forum seemed to disappear for several days recently, or is it just my computer?