Two families
have been wiped out in Italy after a river burst its banks submerging their house
in Sicily.
Nine people
died in the incident in Casteldaccia - from children aged one, three and 15 to
their grandparents. Only three people who were outside the house at the time
survived.
Three other
people died when their cars were swept away elsewhere in Sicily.
Days of
heavy rain and winds have killed at least 17 other people in Italy, mainly in
the north and west.
Some of the
worst damage was to roads around Belluno in the northern Veneto region, after
days of storms had dislodged mud, rocks and water.
Six regions
remain under alert - from Veneto to Sicily and Sardinia in the south.
The tragedy
in Casteldaccia occurred overnight on Saturday.
Twelve
members of two families had gathered to spend the night when water from river
Milicia swamped the house.
Three of
those on the premises had lucky escapes. A father and daughter had gone out on
an errand at the time. The third - another father of two - survived by climbing
onto a tree.
In addition
to the three children, the dead included the mother of two of them, her
brother, sister and their parents - and the mother of one of the surviving
fathers.
One of the
neighbours described the scene minutes before the incident.
"I
heard the dogs barking. It was around 22:30 (21:30 GMT). I told my husband to
go out to see what was happening. He opened the door and water filled the house,"
said Maria Concetta Alfano.
Town mayor
Giovanni Di Giacinto spoke of a "frightening tragedy" - given the Milicia
was only a small river that had never had much water.
"It has
never presented a threat to Casteldaccia, and it wasn't a very rainy day,
anyway," he added.
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