Rome Seeks Emergency Status After Heavy Rainfall

Much of Italy has been hit by bad weather in the past few days, with strong winds and steady downpours in the south and heavy snowfall in the north.

In Rome, overnight storms flooded underpasses and prompted precautionary evacuations as the waters of the Tiber and Aniene rivers rose quickly. The flooding delayed trains and injected further confusion to Rome's already chaotic traffic.

One woman died after being trapped in her car in a flooded underpass in the city's outskirts. Mayor Gianni Alemanno urged Romans to avoid using their cars for the next 24 hours.