As much of the east coast of the US continues to recover from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the Italian peninsula is dealing with much of the same issues. Early last week a series of storms hit the northern and central areas of the country, causing extensive flooding in the provinces of Tuscany and Umbria, as well as in the northern city of Venice and the capital city of Rome.

This week we heard from the DiBagno family. An excerpt of their letter is below.

Last Sunday began with sunshine and warm, I went out for my usual stroll at9 AM before the church service.  An hour and half later we were in the midst of a major storm.  It rained for over 40 consecutive hours. The Tevere overflowed the banks on the side of the bridge towards Deruta so the road was closed on Tuesday.  Sherry and I went out for a bike ride Tuesday and the water was flowing like a waterfall on the other side of the bridge all the way to the curve towards town so that was a long distance.  All the towns along the Tevere were flooded in some degree.  Orvieto took a major hit especially the industrial zone. Marsciano was under water for some hours. That river Nestor hardly merits the term, river, but that even overflowed.  Todi was touched in the lower and newer sections along the river.  Terni was okay.  Our friends in Grosseto had almost three feet of water in 24 hours. By Wednesday all was back to normal here and fields began to dry up. 

Please pray for the Italian people as they clean up the mess left behind by these flood waters. Pray also that the seed of the Gospel will not simply be washed away with the water, but will take root and grow.

To read more about the flooding, click here.