Torrential Rain Triggers Major Flooding, Landslides and Infrastructure Damage Across Slovenia and Northern Italy

A Night of Relentless Rainfall

Torrential rain pounded western and northern Slovenia through the night, triggering a chain of destructive floods and landslides that carved through hillsides, damaged roads and cut off communities. In the Goriška region, the landscape changed hour by hour as storm runoff surged through valleys and swept debris through villages. Entire slopes loosened under the weight of saturated soil.

Civil protection teams described the night as one of the most difficult in recent months.
Sama Kosmača, commander of the regional civil protection headquarters for Northern Primorska, said emergency crews faced a series of sudden events.
“Torrential waters entered numerous buildings in the municipalities of Brda and Kanal ob Soči," he explained. Fire crews and civil protection teams were dispatched roughly fifteen times before dawn, and the work continued into the day as new problems emerged.

The storm did not ease. It carved its way through the settlements on the slopes of Goriška brda, cutting electricity, isolating homes and tearing through infrastructure that had just begun recovering from earlier autumn storms.

Roads Cut Off and Power Lines Downed

Across the region, landslides forced authorities to close several roads. According to Slovenia’s traffic information center:

• The regional road between Dobrovo and Neblo was completely closed due to flooding.
• The Solkan-Gonjače section was reduced to a single alternating lane after a landslide covered half the pavement.

In Goriška brda, several slopes collapsed onto rural roads. One bridge was destroyed. Power infrastructure suffered heavy damage. In Višnjevik, a landslide tore out a concrete power-line pole, cutting electricity to around 200 users. Another slope shifted in Šlovrenc, leaving an additional 80 households without supply.

Residents described the scene as chaotic. Water pushed through basements while mud crawled toward homes at the foot of unstable hills. Families moved belongings to upper floors as sirens echoed between villages.

Heaviest Rainfall Between Brda and Tolmin

Meteorologists confirmed that the core of the storm passed directly over the region between Goriška brda and Tolmin. ARSO meteorologist Brane Gregorčič said the most intense downpours occurred overnight.
By early morning, over 100 millimeters of rain had fallen in just 12 hours. The highest totals were recorded on Vogel with 121 millimeters, and in Tolmin with 115 millimeters.

Gregoričič emphasized that the most severe phase of the storm had passed, even though rain was still falling. Additional precipitation was expected overnight with the passage of a frontal boundary, but meteorologists did not expect rainfall of the same intensity to repeat.

Northern and Northeastern Slovenia Also Hit

The same storm system spread into the north and northeast of Slovenia, overwhelming drainage systems and causing fresh damage in a region still recovering from severe August flooding.

In Zagorje-Litija, a landslide blocked a local road. Another slope threatened a house in Žalec.
In the famous Logarska Dolina valley, the road to the Rinka waterfall was cut for the second time in just over a week due to flooding.

Rescue efforts were underway across mountain areas. The mountain rescue service evacuated 19 hikers trapped by rising water and unstable terrain.

Damage assessments for this series of storms already reach around two million euros. And the number continues to rise.

In Črna na Koroškem, a town devastated by summer floods, several buildings were inundated again—this time due to an overloaded drainage system that failed under the night’s rainfall.

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Storm Damage Spills Into Northern Italy

Across the border, the same weather system delivered destruction to northeastern Italy. In Bracano, a landslide triggered by heavy rain collapsed a three-story house during the night. Rescue crews pulled one survivor from the ruins with a leg injury. Two people remain missing.

Fire brigades, civil protection units and specialized rescue teams were deployed, with helicopters and drones joining the search when weather conditions allowed.

The Friuli Venezia Giulia region reported intense rainfall—up to 152 millimeters in just six hours—and winds reaching 66 kilometers per hour. Schools were closed in Cormòns as authorities warned residents to avoid travel and all landslide-prone areas.

In Veneto, teams searched for a missing 35-year-old Finnish citizen last seen near Belluno.
And in Genoa, Liguria, firefighters responded to over a hundred incidents tied to landslides, collapsing walls and fallen trees. The city remained under a yellow weather alert due to the risk of additional flooding and slope failures.

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency issued yellow alerts for much of northern and central Italy, including Piedmont, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Campania, Basilicata and Sardinia.