Casargo evacuation: 200 evacuated after landslide cascades through town near Lake Como

Emergency workers and volunteers clearing area, says regional president

Wrecked vehicles in Casargo, Lecco, Italy, on 7 August (EPA)

Around 200 people have been evacuated after a landslide crashed through a northern Italian town, according to firefighters.

The landslide, in the town of Casargo, above Lake Como in the Lombardy region, was triggered by heavy rain on Tuesday evening.

No injuries have been reported, and firefighters were continuing to remove debris from the steep streets of the town.

The agricultural lobby group Coldiretti said farmers raising goats and cows above Casargo were still cut off due to blocked roads.

Images showed cars overtaken and turned upside-down by a river of mud.

Fences had also been torn down by the force of the landslide.

“The regional offices and civil protection volunteers are working to bring the situation back to normal as soon as possible,” Attilio Fonatana, president of the Lombardia region, told local media.

People moved out of harm's way in Casargo were taken to a local hotel.

Flooding and bad weather has repeatedly hit the region in recent weeks, La Reppublica reported.

Strong winds uprooted trees while elsewhere a bridge collapsed with unoccupied cars still on it, according to the paper.