Video footage uploaded to You Reporter.it showed the Dragone powering through the southern village of Atrani, near Amalfi, sweeping dozens of cars away like toys.
The raging waters, unleashed by a day-long torrential thunderstorm, are believed to have dragged Francesca Mansi to her death.
The 25-year-old was last seen working in the La Risacca bar just minutes before the wall of water and debris engulfed it.
Lello Rispoli, her manager and the last person to see her alive, was rescued from the wreckage along with two customers, but there was no trace of Francesca.
Dozens of firefighters and coastguards used inflatable boats to search streets that had turned into waterways, but hold little hope of finding her alive.
A system of underground tunnels and stormducts which usually carries the river, whose source is in the mountains above the villa, into the Mediterranean was unable to cope with the sheer volume of water.
Eyewitness Rosario Di Pino said: ”It had been raining all day and there was a fear that the Dragone would go but no-one expected it to be so powerful and so devastating.
”There was a huge roar and then a wall of water just came down the main street into the piazza. I managed to get up onto the roof terrace of where I lived and watch dozens of cars being swept along like paper boats.
”The sheer power of the water was amazing. The noise was terrifying and it went on for ages. I have never seen anything like it before in my life. The water must have been around two metres and was like a wave.”
Atrani’s mayor, Nicola Carrano, said: ”I have never seen anything like it – it was as if the world was ending. I really thought the whole village would be swept into the sea.
”One person is missing but we have been very lucky. It could have been much worse.
“The force of the rain was so strong you couldn’t even keep an umbrella open. I don’t think anything would have stopped this happening.”
Civil protection officials were heading for the area, along with a team of experts from the central government in Rome’s Ministry of Infrastructure.
Post published in: News