ROME: Italian state radio says a rain-swollen river in the countryside near Palermo, Sicily, has flooded a home, killing nine people.
Heavy rains lashed Sicily, a southern Italian island, on Saturday, several days after storms ravaged much of northern Italy. State radio said one person survived the flood late Saturday night by clinging to a tree, and that the victims were from two families spending the weekend together.
The Italian news agency ANSA said two people were missing Sunday in other incidents near Sicily after floodwaters swept away their cars, including that of a doctor heading to a Corleone hospital.
Italy's earlier storms in the north killed at least 15 people, flattened or uprooted millions of trees near Alpine valleys and left several villages without electricity or road access for days.