Bad weather sweeps through Italy

One person died as bad weather swept Italy over the weekend.

The 51-year-old worker drowned after flood water swept him into a canal while he was assessing damage from the wave of wet and wintry weather near Potenza in southern Italy.

Elsewhere, mudslides, avalanches, torrential rain and rivers breaking their banks turned the first weekend in December into a nightmare and brought much of the country to its knees.

Veneto and Trentino in the far northeast suffered avalanche alarms, while roads and rail links were interrupted by heavy snow and flooding.

Veneto Governor Luca Zaia is set to request a state of calamity.

In Emilia-Romagna there was flooding from the Secchia and Panaro rivers, the latter of which broke its banks near Modena.

A fire vehicle crashed into a torrential stream near Bologna and the fire team had to be rescued, after a bridge gave way.

Northern and southern Italy suffered heavy rain and snowfalls.

Rome was lashed by thunderstorms and torrential showers, and access to the Tiber banks was shut after the river neared dangerously high levels.

Milan, Florence, Naples and Palermo also suffered heavy rainstorms.

On Monday the Brenner Pass, which had been closed Sunday due to extreme snowfalls, was reopened to traffic.

(ANSA).

Photos – EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO/ELISABETTA BARACCHI