Heavy Rains Cause Flooding in Siena and Pisa Regions

(ANSA) - Florence, August 24 - Torrential rains flooded roads throughout the Tuscan province of Siena Monday, setting off landslides and interrupting the ancient Roman Cassia consular road and the highway from Siena to Grosseto, police said. Rains were also overflowing rivers and streams in the Pisa area.

As much as 8 inches of rain fell in the province within a six hour period, closing many secondary roads due to landslides and isolating the town of Asciano as fierce torrents prevented any access.

An ambulance carrying an elderly woman with a broken leg was blocked along the Cassia at Monteroni d'Arbia. Civil protection services rescued her aboard another vehicle and took her to Siena hospital.

Also in the same location, divers rushed to check whether anybody was trapped inside a car submerged beneath an underpass.