After violent storms, chaos reigns in northern Italy on the border with France.
The Italian civil defense is looking for missing people.
Germans are said to be among them.
Heavy storms hit northern Italy on Saturday night.
After heavy rains, houses were torn away and streets were flooded.
The Italian civil defense is looking for missing persons, including Germans.
Turin - Masses of water have wreaked havoc in northern Italy.
Extreme rains have flooded streets, caused landslides and simply tore houses away.
Several people are missing.
Especially in the northern Italian region of Piedmont there is a state of emergency.
According to the authorities, 22 people are initially missing in the provinces of Cuneo, Vercelli and Biella.
A 36-year-old was found dead in the Vercelli area.
These are the numbers at the moment, but they are constantly changing, said President of the Piedmont Region, Alberto Cirio, to Sky TG24.
After storms in Italy and France - German trekking group missing
The media report that there are also Germans among the missing.
A German trekking group did not initially contact a hotelier.
He was supposed to pick himself up at Terme di Valdieri after a tour of several days.
As the Italian newspaper La Stampa reports, there are
six Germans
.
According to the hotelier, the group has been in the
Gresso Valley
since Monday
.
The situation is critical there, but his guests have only agreed to return for Sunday.
In his opinion, “missing” would not be the right term, emphasized the hotelier in an interview with La Stampa.
They do not even know that they are being searched for.
There is no contact.
In addition, the mobile phone coverage in the mountains is very poor.
"That is the real tragedy of these mountains," he told the newspaper.
The Germans are said to be on a special photo tour through the mountains.
There is no set schedule to take pictures of the unspoiled nature.
A freelance photographer who lives in Bavaria leads the group, the host continues.
They should be very well equipped and be able to provide for themselves.
They are not people who dare to venture into dangerous areas.
In any case, the hotelier says he drives to the agreed meeting point to pick up the group by car as planned, if the six are not found beforehand.
Chaos after storms in Italy and France: grandparents and grandchildren missing
Four other Germans are missing in the Alpine region between Italy and France.
It is about
grandparents with their two grandchildren
, reports the AFP news agency.
A spokeswoman for civil defense confirmed that.
The missing people had names that sound Italian.
Further details are initially unknown.
(ml)