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Storms: Italian couple escape from landslide 'thanks to their cats'

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Storms: Italian couple escape from landslide 'thanks to their cats'
The couple were told they'll never be able to return to their home in Liguria. Screenshot: video by Secolo XIX

As violent storms lash northern Italy, one couple in Liguria told how their pets aided a narrow escape before their house collapsed in a landslide.

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The couple survived the landslide that caused their house to completely collapse shortly after being woken by their cats, giving them time to escape, Italian media reported on Wednesday.

"My wife got up because Simba and Mose, our cats, were making a noise and woke us up," Claudio Piana told the Secolo XIX newspaper, as violent storms lashed northern Italy, killing a taxi driver and forcing dozens of people from their homes.

"She realised they were playing with a piece of plaster which had just fallen off the ceiling. Then we saw cracks opening in the walls," he said.

Piana and his wife Sabrina Pellegrini had gone to bed at home in Campo Ligure on Monday night as fierce rains across the Liguria region saw rivers burst their banks, washed away a bridge and sparked landslides.

Unbeknown to them, one such landslide had damaged the house's foundations, the newspaper said.

The couple rushed out to the car, but found themselves trapped by a sea of mud, in torrential rain. They were rescued by firefighters.

"My brother then called and said 'Claudio, your house has collapsed'," Piana said.

A video published on the daily's website showed the two-storey home reduced to pile of rubble.

"Now we have nothing. The firefighters said we can never go back into the house, it's too dangerous," he added.

"At least Simba and Mose are safe."

READ ALSO: Two killed in floods as Piedmont declares state of emergency

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