MikeLigalig.com

Residents of a southern Italy town were evacuated on Tuesday following a dangerous landslide which brought down an entire hillside, state media reported.

During the weekend the area around Maierato, a town in the Calabria region near the Tyrrhenian coast, had been hit by heavy rainfall.

So far a total of 2,300 residents have been evacuated by the authorities, according to state television Rai that broadcast an impressive amateur video of the landslide, showing people escaping and the hillside coming down and burying the town under debris and mud.

Mayor Sergio Rizzo described the scene as "apocalyptic." However, no deaths or injuries have been reported.

In recent days the entire region has been severely affected by mudslides. Towns around Cosenza have also been evacuated this week due to floods which destroyed a water main on Monday, leaving thousands of homes without tap water.

In October a mudslide in the Sicilian city of Messina killed 37 people and left more than 700 homeless. Another landslide struck in November the island of Ischia, killing one person and damaging buildings.- PNA