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SAN
REMO, Italy (AP) -- Civil protection services went on full
alert Friday after mudslides killed at least four people
and hundreds more had to be evacuated from their homes amid
heavy rains in the Italian region of Liguria.
Rescue
teams found the bodies of a married couple buried under
bricks and mud near San Remo on the Italian Riviera, the
country's northwest coast. Digging through the mud continued
in case others might be missing. The region, on Italy's
northwestern coast, was still being lashed by heavy rains.
A French
truck driver died Thursday night when his vehicle was buried
by a mudslide near a toll gate on a highway connecting northwestern
Italy to France. Another man was killed when a wall collapsed
on him after water and mud swept through a street in the
town of Imperia on Thursday night.
In San
Remo, a town renowned for its usually mild climate and flower-lined
streets, authorities ordered 250 people to leave their homes
after downpours threatened to flood the banks of the San
Francesco river.
A few
miles away, in Imperia, schools were closed and travel was
disrupted. About 70 patients were evacuated from a hospital
as a precaution.
With
stormy conditions set to continue throughout northern Italy
until Sunday, authorities also declared emergencies in the
regions of Piedmont and Lombardy.
Two
weeks ago, four people were killed by mudslides near Imperia
and scores of people were forced to evacuate their homes.
And last month, rains and floods devastated parts of southern
Switzerland and northern Italy, killing at least 35 people.
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