Storms drench Italy,1 dead in Rome

Sightseeing boats moored on the submerged banks of the Tiber river, in central Rome, near the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica (in background,) Thursday Dec. 11, 2008. A violent storm flooded parts of Rome on Thursday, killing at least one person, as a wave of bad weather continued to plague Italy.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

ROME-Violent storms flooded parts of Rome on Thursday, killing at least one person as the sea threatened to once more inundate Venice.Firefighters in the capital said they had to evacuate dozens of people trapped in cars on flooded streets and on ground floors of buildings. Civil protection officials said more rain was expected Friday, further swelling the roiling Tiber river, which runs through the city.Rescuers found one woman dead inside her car, which was submerged in an underpass as hail and rain poured down on Rome early Thursday, spokesman Gennaro Tornatore said. From midnight to 8 a.m. Thursday, 60-101 millimeters (2.36-3.98 inches) of rain fell in Rome-more than the average for the entire month of December, said Fabrizio Santori, head of the city's security commission.Aerial pictures of the capital showed the streets of entire neighborhoods submerged by brown mud.Snow has fallen in northern Italy over the last few days, and the bad weather is now reaching across the center and south of the country."The situation in Rome is critical, but the weather conditions tell us we need to keep an eye on the south too," Tornatore said.Mayor Gianni Alemanno asked authorities to declare a state of emergency, and Italy's largest union scaled back a planned general strike because of the weather. The civil protection said it was monitoring several swelling rivers, including the Tiber and Florence's Arno. Authorities urged Italians not to travel by car unless strictly necessary.The weather has been snarling traffic in cities and causing delays at train stations and airports across the country.In Venice, alarms sounded early in the morning as the high tide came in, flooding the city's lowest parts, including the landmark St. Mark's Square.The historic piazza was covered only in a few inches (centimeters) of water, far less than last week, when an unusually high tide caused one of the worst floods in the city's recorded history.However, the municipality said strong southern winds pushing water into the lagoon could increase the high tide level.
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081211/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_bad_weather

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