Italy floods: Eight dead and four missing after heavy rainfall in central Marche region
Flash floods have hit Italy's central Marche region, leaving up to eight people dead and four others missing.
They wreaked havoc in the coastal town of Ancona -- the region's capital -- and the villages surrounding it, with more than 400mm of rain falling in the space of a few hours.
Firefighters came to the rescue of individuals who were stranded and caught up in the floods, offering lifeboats and assistance. Reinforcements are also due to arrive from other Italian regions, including Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Abruzzo.
Among those missing are an eight-year-old girl and her mother, Italian news agency ANSA reports.
The 112 emergency number received a spike in phone calls amidst an incident that the Civil Protection's regional councillor, Stefano Aguzzi, described as "unexpected".
"We hadn't seen [anything] alarming," he added. "There wasn't any time to intervene [in some towns], there were some people who maybe were driving or had left home without being aware of the risks."
The tragedy unfolding in Marche comes after a pattern of freak thunderstorms and disruptive weather has been affecting the Italian peninsula for over a month, following a sweltering summer of record-breaking heat.
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