Several thousand people have been forced to evacuate their homes due to heavy rain in northern Italy. In Bologna and the surrounding areas, over 2,000 residents spent the night in emergency shelters or with family and friends.

At the height of the storm, six departments close to the city of Lyon were put on red flood alert, and in parts of the Ardeche region, situated between Lyon and the southerly port city of Marseille, up to 700 millimeters of rain fell in 48 hours.

Floods engulfed parts of north-central Italy from overflowing rivers following days of heavy rain, prompting the state-led road operator to close some expressways.

Various areas in the Emilia-Romagna region have been flooded, while heavy rain also lashed the Italian island of Sicily on Saturday, causing landslides.

Italy's Emilia Romagna region was left suffering from heavy flooding on Sunday as bad weather caused multiple rivers to burst their banks.

The red and orange weather alerts in place across Italy are expected to remain in place until Tuesday.View on euronews

October 19, 2024 Storms battered parts of Italy, bringing torrential rain and causing flooding across the country. Red and orange weather alerts would remain in effect from some places until Tuesday.