Massive flooding devastates northern Italy, leaves 9 dead

Rescue workers searched Thursday for people still trapped by floodwaters in northeast Italy as more residents were evacuated after downpours which killed nine people and devastated homes and farms.

Residents waded through dirty water or reclaimed what they could from sodden houses in towns across the wealthy Emilia Romagna region, famed for its historic cities and prized gastronomy.

As mammoth clean-up efforts got underway in some areas, authorities said electricity had been partly restored, but some 27,000 people were still in the dark.

Nearly two dozen rivers and streams flooded across the southeast of the low-lying region following heavy rain earlier this week, submerging entire neighbourhoods and farmland, and damaging 400 roads.

"I've lived here since 1979, I've seen floods go by, but I've never seen anything like that," Edoardo Amadori, a resident of the city of Cesena, told AFP on Wednesday.