At Least 10 Dead, 4 Missing After 'Tsunami'-Like Flash Floods in Italy: 'It Was Chaos'

Mar. 15, 2025

Italian officials say at least 10 people have been killed after flash flooding devastated several towns in central Italy, per multiple reports.

Floodwaters ripped through several towns in the Marche region following torrential downpours late Thursday evening, according to theBBC.

The civil protection agency said about 15.75 inches of rain — one third of the average annual amount — fell in a matter of two to three hours,Reutersreported.

“It wasn’t a water bomb, it was a tsunami,” Riccardo Pasqualini, the mayor of Barbara, told Italian state radio, per theAssociated Press.

Premier Mario Draghi confirmed that 10 people were dead and four were missing at a news conference in Rome, according to the news agency,.

ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty

Among the missing are a mother and her young daughter, who were attempting to escape the floods, as well as a boy who was swept out of his mother’s arms, according to the AP.

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Flooding in central Italy following torrential downpours.ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty

Mirco Santarelli, a resident of the town of Cantiano, told the AP that “it was panic” for those living in the valley area, which “became a bowl” of rainwater when the downpours passed through.

“You could see cars in the middle of the road that drifted away in the flood, debris everywhere, screams. It was chaos,” Santarelli said.

Damage from the flooding in central Italy.ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty

“It is an irreversible phenomenon, a taste of what our future will be,” d’Astore said.

source: people.com