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> 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> 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 Leghorn.

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 in Leghorn, also known in Italy as Livorno. Mayor Filippo Nogarin said he couldn’t immediately confirm the number, but added that casualties could increase because several people were missing.

Nogarin says “a crazy amount of rain” pummeled Leghorn and “the city is literally devastated.”

Train service was interrupted in parts of the Tuscan coastal area.

In Rome, which until recently suffered through 3½ months of drought, the downpour made streets resemble fast-moving streams and several subway stations were closed. </s> The death toll from the fierce storms battering Italy has risen to eight, civil protection authorities said Tuesday, as heavy rains caused flooding. In addition to the five people confirmed dead on Monday, authorities reported another three deaths in the north of the country, including a woman killed when her home was engulfed by a mudslide and rocks, AFP reported. Six regions were on red alert on Monday due to a wave of storms, torrential rain and gales. The regions included Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Trentino-Alto Adige and Abruzzo, with gusts of wind reaching 100kph in some cases, according to ANSA. </s> 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> Floods kill at least five as storms thrash Italy

A man battles the heavy rain and floods on the way to a football match in Rome September 10, 2017. — Reuters picROME, Sept 10 — At least five people have died in violent rainstorms sweeping across Italy today, with the Tuscan city of Livorno taking the brunt of the flooding, fire services said.

Four people from the same family were found dead in a flooded house in the city, where 40 centimetres of rainfall in four hours transformed streets into rivers and washed away cars.

The Corriere della Sera daily said the dead were a little girl, her parents and a grandparent.

A fifth body was found in an area devastated by landslides. Three other people were missing, the fire brigade said.

“The situation is very difficult, it’s critical. We fear a disaster,” Livorno mayor Filippo Nogarin said.

Italy’s civil protection service issued a code orange alert for Florence as the storms, which began in northern Italy overnight, swept down the country towards the south.

Underpasses were being closed as a precaution in the capital Rome.

Coldiretti, Italy’s main agricultural organisation, said the bad weather was aggravated by coming hard on the heels of a drought which had left the land drier than usual and unable to soak up the rains.

Rainfall in Tuscany in particular had been down 57 per cent this summer, it said.

“The tropicalisation of the climate is causing an increase in extreme weather events, with heat waves, heavy cloud bursts and violent hailstorms which are damaging the national agricultural production,” Coldiretti said.

It put the cost of the damage at over €14 billion (RM70.7 billion) in the last 10 years. — AFP </s> Torrential rain in Italy triggered flooding that killed at least five people Sunday in the Tuscan port town of Leghorn, including four family members trapped by rising water in their basement.

The Italian news agency ANSA said the bodies of a 4-year-old boy, his parents and grandfather were found in the flooded basement of their two-family home.

Some Italian media reports put the death toll at six in Leghorn, also known in Italy as Livorno. But the Tuscany Region civil protection chief, Cristiano Lucchi, said the sixth death was caused by a car accident unrelated to the flooding.

Lucchi said two persons were missing.

Leghorn Mayor Filippo Nogarin said a “a crazy amount of rain” pummeled Leghorn in the space of a few hours and “the city is literally devastated.”

Strong winds toppled trees and many parked cars were nearly submerged by flood waters that also left streets clogged with mud.

Nogarin appealed for volunteers to help the town, which has a population of about 170,000 and is a popular transit point for travelers catching ferries to the islands of Elba and Sardinia.

Train service was interrupted in parts of the Tuscan coastal area along the Tyrrhenian Sea.

In Rome, which until recently had suffered through 3½ months of drought, the downpour quickly made streets resemble fast-moving streams and several subway stations were closed.

City Hall urged residents and visitors to go outside only for urgent reasons and to avoid parks after midmorning thunderstorms lashed Rome. It warned that weather forecasts including the possibility of hailstorms and strong winds throughout the rest of Sunday and Monday.
In the floods that are affecting Italy, the death toll rises to 19 people.