One man has died, and another is missing in the province of Vicenza after extreme weather caused widespread flooding in the area. The victims, a father and son, were travelling in a car that plunged into the Agno stream after a sinkhole opened up on a bridge in Valdagno during heavy rain overnight.
Firefighters in Vicenza found the body of one of the men early on Friday in the basin of the Trissino dam. The search continues for the second victim.
Torrential rain, strong winds, and heavy snowfall have battered parts of Italy this week. The bad weather continued on Friday, leaving around 6,400 people in the Aosta Valley without electricity.
Giorgio Pession, president and CEO of Deval, the company that manages power distribution in the region, said: “We are working hard but our interventions are conditioned by difficulties in accessing the sites. We have not yet managed to reach some areas. We are also operating with the help of a helicopter.”
He added: “Cogne is where the situation is most delicate, while power has been restored in Valdigne, from Courmayeur to La Thuile.”
On Thursday, a 92-year-old man drowned in his hillside home near Turin after being trapped by flood waters. In another incident, four people died when a cable car cabin crashed during severe weather near Sorrento.
Italy vulnerable to climate-related disasters
Experts warn that the climate crisis is driving an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including storms, flooding, heatwaves, and droughts.
Although several sources contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, the main driver remains the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. These continue to generate significant profits for global energy companies.
Italy is especially vulnerable to climate-related disasters. According to Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index 2025, published in February, climate events caused over 765,000 deaths worldwide between 1993 and 2022, including around 38,000 in Italy.
The report ranked Italy as the fifth-worst-affected country in that period, behind Dominica, China, Honduras, and Myanmar.
