Emergency Declared in Italy as Cyclone Harry Pummels South
Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci announced that due to the landslide's relentless advance toward Niscemi's urban core, officials have widened the evacuation perimeter from 100 meters to 150 meters (328 to 492 feet) as a safety precaution, with the disaster zone now spanning more than four kilometers (2.5 miles), media reported.
Musumeci confirmed an updated displacement count, noting that 1,500 individuals have now been evacuated due to the landslide.
Fabio Ciciliano, director of the Civil Protection Department, cautioned that the geological failure remains active and displacement figures may climb.
"The number of evacuees in Niscemi is increasing because the landslide isn't stopped, so as the landslide continues to enter the town, it becomes increasingly important to increase the number of evacuees," he said.
Italy's national government has earmarked €100 million ($118.7 million) from emergency reserves for urgent response operations throughout Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia, where a 12-month emergency declaration now stands following extreme weather attributed to Cyclone Harry, a news agency confirmed.
Emergency funding will finance debris clearance, infrastructure repair for critical utilities, and direct aid to displaced populations.
The Civil Protection Department announced earlier Monday that yellow-level weather warnings remain active until Jan. 27 across Veneto, Sardinia, Campania, Calabria, and Sicily as a powerful low-pressure system continues moving through the central-western Mediterranean basin.
Two separate major landslides struck Niscemi within a span of days, triggered predominantly by sustained torrential precipitation, with the affected zone now measuring approximately 4 kilometers in length and plunging to depths estimated at 6 meters (20 feet).
"The situation continues to worsen," Mayor Massimiliano Conti said, describing it as "dramatic."
Additional terrain failures developed through the night, Conti reported, including a vertical 25-meter (82-foot) cliff collapse.
Officials have shuttered multiple roadways and all educational institutions in Niscemi, a community with roughly 25,000 inhabitants.
Meanwhile in northern Italy, a significant landslide buried the Via Aurelia coastal highway connecting Arenzano and Genoa Monday evening. The hillside collapse near the Pizzo tunnel deposited massive quantities of rock and soil across both traffic directions.
Emergency crews conducted nighttime search operations for potential casualties, utilizing specialized search dogs to detect whether anyone remained buried under rubble. Authorities have reported zero fatalities thus far.
In Sardinia, emergency management extended severe weather advisories for an additional 24-hour period, alerting residents to expect persistent heavy precipitation and heightened geological hazards as the dangerous weather pattern continues.
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