Roundup: Bad weather in Italy claims victims

A man and a woman died while some other people were injured due to an extraordinary wave of bad weather that hit the Italian peninsula on Thursday, local reports said.

The man, 41, was travelling in his car near Lucca, a city in central Italy's Tuscany region, when he was hit by a rock that fell off an embankment, according to local newspaper Corriere Fiorentino.

The newspaper showed the picture of the man's car half destroyed by the rock. He reportedly died of injuries following the accident, while a female passenger sitting beside him was unharmed.

Also in central Italy, a 48-year-old public employee was killed by a falling tree uprooted by winds of up to 115 km/h.

The woman, a mother of two children aged 10 and 12, was walking to work in the city of Urbino when she was crushed by the tree, according to local newspaper Corriere Adriatico.

Some other injuries were reported by local media in accidents caused by bad weather, including two firefighters who were hit by a cement pole toppled by a blast of wind near Florence.

In Tuscany, of which Florence is the capital, police forces received hundreds of calls from citizens on falling of trees, shingles or banners. Some buildings' roof were reported to be torn off by the wind.

"I will declare the state of regional emergency in order to allow mayors of all municipalities that have registered damages to start urgent intervention," Tuscany Region President Enrico Rossi was quoted by Florence-based La Nazione newspaper as saying.

The wave of bad weather also brought disasters to other regions including Campania, in southern Italy, where a wall fell down in Naples crushing eight parked cars; and Liguria, in the north, where a ship broke loose from its moorings in the coastal city of Genoa.

The bad weather wreaked havoc on traffic throughout the country. Rail transport was suspended in various areas of Tuscany due to the presence of metal pieces and other materials transported by strong winds. Flights were cancelled or postponed at the Florence airport.

Schools remained closed in many parts of Italy. ANSA news agency said a planned meeting between regional authorities and newly-elected Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome was postponed because some participants were not able to reach the Italian capital.

Damages to Italy's agricultural sectors "can be already quantifiable as millions of euros," the Italian Farmers' Confederation (Cia) said in a statement.

Not only the high winds ruined greenhouses, sheds and farms, but incessant rainfall caused flooding that risked to "asphyxiate" crops, the statement pointed out.

Local experts said the wave of bad weather was caused by a sudden drop of air pressure especially in central regions of Italy, which triggered strong winds and also combined with intense precipitation including snowfall.

Colonel Guido Guidi, weather and climate expert of the Italian Air Force, told Rai State television that the weekend was forecast to be more comfortable but still cold, with winds up to 80 km/h and precipitation continuing to affect central and southern Italy on Friday. Endit