Around 1,000 people have been forced to evacuate in northern Italy as deadly floods hit several countries across Europe.
A low-pressure system named Boris has caused the worst flooding in more than two decades in Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria in the last week, killing at least 24 people before moving west to Italy.
The latest evacuations come as KingCharles said he was “profoundly shocked and saddened to see the destruction and devastation caused by the catastrophic flooding in central Europe”.
Image: The Lamone river overflows near Bagnacavallo in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Pic: AP
Image: The Lamone river near Bagnacavallo, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, where 1,000 people were forced to evacuate. Pic: AP
Image: Firefighters use a boat to evacuate people in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna. Pic: AP
The acting president of Emilia-Romagna, Irene Priolo, told local media “it rained non-stop for more than 48 hours, non-stop”.
“Boris has clearly decided to pick on our region,” she said.
Image: Workers try to pump away water after flooding in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna. Pic: AP
Image: A drone view shows the flooded area of Faenza. Pic: Reuters
Schools were closed and some transport suspended in the region, with three rivers in the region overflowing.
In May 2023, two rounds of torrential rain and mudslides killed 17 people and caused €8.5bn (£7.14bn) worth of damage in Emilia-Romagna, according to regional authorities.
Meanwhile, receding waters across central Europe revealed the huge scale of the destruction caused by the exceptionally heavy rains that began a week ago.
Once again, Emilia Romagna is close to losing everything
By Simone Baglivo, for Sky News in Italy
Sky News was the first international news crew to see the extent of the Emilia Romagna floods. So far, in this region of northern Italy, more than 1,000 citizens have been evacuated and two are missing. Schools have been suspended and train lines and roads have been closed.
We joined a Guardia di Finanza reconnaissance helicopter looking for people in danger in the worst-affected areas, between the provinces of Forli and Ravenna, which are completely flooded and isolated. This includes the towns of Faenza, Gambettola, Lugo, and Traversara di Bagnacavallo, where some have been rescued from rooftops and where two people are feared dead.
We saw four helicopters from the Italian Air Force, fire department, and health service in the Traversara neighbourhood trying to rescue people who had climbed to the tops of their houses to escape the water. Nearby, rivers “exploded” because of Storm Boris, creating a view which was both apocalyptic and shocking.
Hundreds of rescue officers have been sent here from other regions but there are hardly any signs of life. Last year, 17 people in this area died in flooding, which caused damage worth an estimated €8.5bn (£7.14bn).
Now, once again, Emilia Romagna is close to losing everything.
Image: The Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest as the Danube floods its banks. Pic: AP/Denes Erdos
Image: Houses damaged by flooding in Jesenik, Czech Republic. Pic: CTK via AP
Image: A cemetery under water due to the flooded Odra River in Bohumin, Czech Republic. Pic: CTK via AP
Czech interior minister Vit Rakusan said the number of people killed had risen to five in the north-east Czech Republic, and that eight people were still missing.
Authorities have also reported seven deaths each in Poland and Romania, and five in Austria.
In Hungary, flood waters continued to rise on Thursday as authorities shut down roads, rail stations and ferries along the Danube River, which rose by nearly one metre in 24 hours.
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Meanwhile, the King said in a statement on Thursday: “Many people in the United Kingdom have strong, enduring and personal ties to the region, and, together with them, my wife and I send our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to all those who have so tragically lost their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods.
“We have immense admiration for the sheer courage and dedication of the emergency services across the region who have clearly worked relentlessly to provide desperately-needed support, relief and assistance to the countless people whose lives and properties have been dreadfully disrupted.”
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Image: Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
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They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has said 15 people have been injured in “US-British” airstrikes in and around the capital Sanaa.
Most of those hurt were from the Shuub district, near the centre of the city, a statement from the health ministry said.
Another person was injured on the main airport road, the statement added.
It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” following a missile attack by the group on Israel’s main international airport on Sunday morning.
It remains unclear whether the UK took part in the latest strikes and any role it may have played.
On 29 April, UK forces, the British government said, took part in a joint strike on “a Houthi military target in Yemen”.
“Careful intelligence analysis identified a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some fifteen miles south of Sanaa,” the British Ministry of Defence said in a previous statement.
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On Sunday, the militant group fired a missile at the Ben Gurion Airport, sparking panic among passengers in the terminal building.
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly caused flights to be halted.
Four people were said to be injured, according to the country’s paramedic service.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Image: Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
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Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.