At least nine people have been killed in floods on the island of Sicily after storms battered Italy.

The victims are reported to be members of two families staying in a house which was flooded when a river bank burst near Palermo.

Children aged 1, 3 and 15 were among those who died. </s> Ten people, including a family of nine, have died in floods around Palermo on the southern Italian island of Sicily, rescue services said on Sunday as fierce storms continue to exact a deadly toll.

They said the bodies of the family, including children aged 1, 3 and 15, were found in their house in Casteldaccia next to a small river which had burst its banks.

Three other members of the same family were able to escape, according to the Agi news agency.

Separately, a man was found dead in his car while two other people are missing.

Earlier this week in Sicily, floods closed many roads and mayors ordered schools, public parks and underpasses shut.

Italy, especially in the north and around Venice, has been hit by a series of strong storms which have claimed at least 20 lives and caused massive damage and disruption.

Trees covering the mountains in the Dolomites range were reduced to matchsticks, flattened by winds that tore through the Veneto region on Thursday.

"It's like after an earthquake," Veneto governor Luca Zaia said. "Thousands of hectares of forest were razed to the ground, as if by a giant electric saw."

Italy's civil protection agency described the weather lashing the country this week as "one of the most complex meteorological situations of the past 50 to 60 years".



KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter. </s> Nine people have died after a rain-swollen river flooded a home in the countryside near Palermo, Sicily, Italian state radio said.

Nine people have died after a rain-swollen river flooded a home in the countryside near Palermo, Sicily, Italian state radio said.

Heavy rains have lashed Sicily, a southern Italian island, several days after storms ravaged much of northern Italy.

State radio said one person survived the flood late on Saturday night by clinging to a tree. Reports added that the victims were from two families who were spending the weekend together.

The Italian news agency Ansa said two people were missing on Sunday in other incidents near Sicily after floodwaters swept away their cars, including that of a doctor heading to a Corleone hospital.

Italy’s earlier storms in the north killed at least 15 people, flattened or uprooted millions of trees near Alpine valleys and left several villages without electricity or road access for days. </s> Torrential rain in Italy has triggered flooding that killed at least five people in the Tuscan port town of Livorno.

Italian state television said four of the victims were family members whose bodies were found in their flooded basement on Sunday.

Some Italian media reports put the death toll at six.

Mayor Filippo Nogarin said he could not confirm the number, but added that casualties could increase because several people were missing. </s> ROME — Italian state radio says a rain-swollen river in the countryside near Palermo, Sicily, has flooded a home, killing nine people.

Heavy rains lashed Sicily, a southern Italian island, on Saturday, several days after storms ravaged much of northern Italy. State radio said one person survived the flood late Saturday night by clinging to a tree, and that the victims were from two families spending the weekend together.

The Italian news agency ANSA said two people were missing Sunday in other incidents near Sicily after floodwaters swept away their cars, including that of a doctor heading to a Corleone hospital.

Italy's earlier storms in the north killed at least 15 people, flattened or uprooted millions of trees near Alpine valleys and left several villages without electricity or road access for days. </s> ROME (AFP) - Ten people, including a family of nine, have died in floods around Palermo, on the southern Italian island of Sicily, rescue services said on Sunday (Nov 4).

They said the bodies of the family, including children aged one, three and 15, were found in their house in Casteldaccia next to a small river which had burst its banks.

A man was found separately in his car, while two other people are missing, they said, as Italy grapples with fierce storms which have already claimed at least 20 lives this week. </s> Torrential rain in Italy has triggered flooding that killed at least five people in the Tuscan port town of Livorno.

Italian state television said four of the victims were family members whose bodies were found in their flooded basement on Sunday.

Some Italian media reports put the death toll at six. Mayor Filippo Nogarin said he could not confirm the number, but added that casualties could increase because several people were missing.

Mr Nogarin said “a crazy amount of rain” pummelled Livorno and “the city is literally devastated”.

Train services were interrupted in parts of the Tuscan coastal area.

In Rome, which until recently suffered through three and a half months of drought, the downpour made streets resemble fast-moving streams and several underground stations were closed. </s> Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Storms, mudslides and strong winds across Italy left five people dead and one missing, forcing firefighters to carry out 1,600 interventions, while high tides in Venice have covered 70 percent of the historic center, Italian press reported Monday.

Three of the deaths occurred in the central region of Lazio: A man and a woman died in the province of Frosinone after a pine tree crashed into the vehicle in which they traveled, while a 57-year old man was killed by a falling tree in Latina, Il Corriere della Sera reported Monday.

In the southern region of Campania, a 21-year old man was hit by a tree and later died from his injuries in a nearby hospital. A woman in the same region remains in serious condition after similar injuries.

A woman in the province of Savona, a port in northwest Italy, was killed by an object lifted by the wind. In Ancona, located in central Italy along the Adriatic coast, a man remains seriously injured after falling from a roof.

The owner of a sailboat that crashed Sunday against rocks in the port of Catanzaro, in southern Italy, remained missing Monday, the newspaper added.

Officials recommended that city authorities ask the population to limit movements, and counseled the closing of schools and businesses. Many schools in several areas of the country were closed Monday and would likely remain so on Tuesday, though the weather is expected to improve.

Firefighters reported 1,600 interventions, with 700 of them in the north-central region of Toscana.

In Venice, residents saw rapidly rising water during the afternoon causing a record high tide of 61 inches, which flooded 70 percent of the historic city center. The city's public boat transportation service was canceled and a few units were only working to pick up passengers stranded in flooded stops.

The highway pass between Italy and Autria at Brennero was closed twice during the day. There were multiple reports affecting agriculture, ranging from flooded fields in the north to the loss of olives in the south because of the wind.

Italian newspaper Il Messaggero counted six deaths as a result of the bad weather.

In addition to multiple people injured, property damage and stranded tourists, the weather events also delayed train, airplane and highway traveling. </s> The death toll from violent rainstorms battering Italy has risen to nine, officials said Tuesday.

Most of the country’s northern region remains under a red alert after catastrophic rains and severe winds pounded much of the country, resulting in downed trees, tidal flooding, and thousands left without power.

Venice has been inundated by floodwaters — the worst seen in the Italian city for at least a decade.

On Monday, the water rose to more than five feet above sea level at high tide, bringing three-quarters of the canal city under water.

“The exceptional wave of bad weather leaves us with a dramatic toll: nine dead, four serious injuries and one person missing,” said Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

The national fire brigade said it had intervened in 7,000 cases across the country and that one of its members died after being crushed by a tree during a rescue operation in a small town in the northeast Italian province of South Tyrol.

Authorities said Tuesday that a woman died in the north region of Trentino when her home was overcome by a mudslide and that a man was killed by a falling tree in the northeastern region of Veneto.

Two young people died in the south of Rome when a tree hit their car, and another person was killed in the nearby town of Terracina as winds brought down throngs of pine trees, according to CNN.

Among the victims, according to the news outlet, was a 21-year-old man who was struck by a falling tree while walking in Naples and a woman who died after being hit by debris blown off a building in the northern region of Liguria.

A man was also killed Monday while kite-surfing near the town of Cattolica on the Adriatic coast.

According to Italian media, nearly 200 people, tourists and hotel staff were stranded by heavy snowfall at Stelvio Pass, a mountain pass in northern Italy bordering Switzerland.

The weather was expected to improve Tuesday, “giving the country a truce,” according to an official from Italy’s Civil Protection Service.

Meanwhile, heavy snowfall in France has caused travel chaos and left hundreds of motorists stranded as winter arrived early on Monday.

Nearly 200,000 homes remained without power across the country Tuesday after snowstorms struck central regions Monday evening.
Three people are killed and many others are injured after heavy floods strike the Italian region of Calabria. A bridge collapses and landslides also occur.