ASTONISHING video footage shows extreme floods sweeping through the streets of Italy as a red alert is issued for severe weather.
The north of the country has been battered by storms, causing massive disruption and even triggering landslides.
XTorrents of water flooded through narrow streets in the Piedmont region[/caption]
Fast-flowing water transformed the roads of Turin into riversX
XThe flooding caused widespread disruption to road and rail[/caption]
Italy is the latest European country to battle bad weather, after various holiday hot-spots such as Majorica and Lanzarote – where flooding continues to cause trouble.
Clips uploaded to social media show torrents of water rampaging down steep, narrow streets.
The roads and walkways are completely submerged beneath the gushing brown water, turning the passages into fast-flowing rivers.
Fountains and spray form where the water collides with walls because it is flowing with such force.
Other aerial shots show huge swathes of land underwater, with fields resembling large, still lakes.
Countryside roads are completely flooded in certain sections, rendering them unusable, and stand as islands amid the water.
The Piedmont region, north-west Italy, announced a state of red alert on Thursday as it contended with terrible weather.
Torrential rain and relentless gales lashed the area, causing flooding and massive disruption to traffic and rail services.
Some residents were forced to evacuate their homes after a landslide in the town of Villadossola.
The city of Turin closed off access to riverbank areas as a safety measure, and one railway station ground to a complete halt.
Some areas have even been hit with snow, closing down a major tunnel.
Milan shut off its city parks due to the heavy rain and strong winds, and the fire brigade in the capital Rome was called out to over 100 incidents.
More intense rain has been forecast to fall on the already water-logged land on Thursday, but experts hope it the weekend will bring a reprieve.
Piedmont Governor Alberto Cirio said: “I started my day at the Piedmont Civil Protection headquarters in Turin, where we have had our operations centre open 24 hours a day since yesterday.
“We are expecting the extremely critical situation to last three or four hours more, but, at the moment, no one has been injured.
XHuge areas of countryside were also left underwater[/caption]
XFields were completely waterlogged, with further rain expected on Thursday[/caption]
XRoads were covered by standing water and rendered impassable[/caption]
“We hope this will continue. We expect the emergency to be over by early afternoon.”
Italy’s struggles follow staggering scenes in Lanzarote, after a year’s worth of rain fell inside two hours in a storm last weekend.
Hotels were forced to close their doors and flights to and from the island were diverted and cancelled.
Majorca was next, with the usually-balmy island buried beneath a thick layer of ice after a freak hail dump.
Diggers were drafted in to clear the icy sludge and get roads moving again.