One Dead As Landslides Hit Austrian Villages

Vienna, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2022 ) :One person has died after landslides caused by heavy rains waged widespread damage in southern Austria on Wednesday.

Record rain falls overnight Tuesday to Wednesday sparked the landslides, sending mud and debris into populated regions.

Several streams also burst their banks in the mountainous Villach-Land district in Carinthia state, which borders Italy and Slovenia.

President Alexander Van der Bellen called the destruction in Carinthia "dramatic", appealing to people to take care of themselves and others.

An 82-year-old man was found dead after he was swept into the floods by a landslide, district head Bernd Riepan said.

Another person reported missing while travelling in a car managed to get himself to safety, he added.

One community with some 1,200 inhabitants remained cut off, Riepan told AFP. No one there was reported injured.

Riepan said many houses had been partially buried in the district, though the exact number was not yet known.

Photos showed debris-strewn streets and houses partially submerged in water and mud in Villach-Land.

A flooding alert at another community in adjacent Salzburg state imposed earlier on Wednesday was lifted as the situation improved, according to the Austrian news agency APA.

In some areas of the region, there has never been such a large amount of rain in such a short time since the start of measurements, according to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).

ZAMG said it rained as much in just a few hours as it does for the entire month of an average June.

Austria is currently experiencing a heatwave and authorities have warned of thunderstorms.

Experts say climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heatwaves and other extreme weather events.