ROME, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Two people died as an adverse weather system battered the Italian peninsula on Saturday, causing floods, road collapses and landslides, rescue services and local media reported.
The two fatalities were swept away by swollen rivers, one in Tuscany and one in the northern Friuli region.
"We recovered the lifeless body of motorcyclist swept away by Santerno River flood near Florence," the National Fire Department tweeted on Saturday afternoon.
In the morning, firefighters reported on Twitter that divers "are at work to recover the lifeless body of a person in a car that was swept away by a river flood" in Friuli.
Tuscany Governor Enrico Rossi wrote on Facebook that "a stretch of the Cassia state road has collapsed due to adverse weather" and posted a photo of the two-lane road with one half of it missing. No one was hurt and Tuscany will proclaim a state of emergency, the governor wrote.
Flights into Florence airport were redirected and ferry connections to Capri and the Tremiti Islands in the South have been suspended due to high winds and stormy seas, ANSA reported.
In the northwestern Liguria region, a number of landslides occurred in various locations, causing 200 people to be evacuated from their homes and businesses, ANSA Italian news agency and TGCom 24 private news broadcaster reported, showing footage of swollen rivers, mudslides and high winds whipping the trees.
In Venice, where floods in mid-November damaged artistic treasures as well as homes and businesses, the water rose by over a meter on Saturday, flooding the city on the lagoon. Water levels are expected to peak at 1.30 meters on Sunday, authorities said on the city's website.
In a statement on its website, the Civil Protection Department has declared an orange weather alert, the third out of four levels, in 11 of Italy's 20 regions for Sunday due to high winds and torrential rains.
