Nine people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes after torrential rain hit Italy's northern Emilia-Romagna region, causing flooding and landslides.
Civil Defense Minister Nello Musumeci said in some areas half the annual average had fallen in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks, flooding towns and thousands of hectares of farmland.
"We are facing catastrophic events that have probably not been seen before," the president of the Emilia-Romagna region, Stefano Bonaccini, told reporters.
Authorities said flooding had hit 37 towns and communities and about 120 landslides had been recorded. Nine bodies were recovered from various locations, Bonaccini said.
