PALERMO -- The wave of bad weather in Italy hit the South, causing serious damage, injuries and the death of a pensioner in Sicily, and families to be evacuated in Calabria, emergency services said Monday.

 A pensioner Giovanni Mazzara, aged 67, died on the motorway between Palermo and Agrigento, drowned by a stream flooded by hours of torrential rain. He was in a car Sunday with three other people, when a wave of water and mud hit.

 The other passengers managed to save themselves, but Mazzara was dragged away by the flood and found an hour later submerged in the mud and water.

The bad weather alert rang true Sunday with torrential rain and strong winds in the provinces of Agrigento, Messina, Trapani, Palermo and Catania.

 In Palermo, where the storms began Sunday afternoon, the firefighters had to intervene to free drivers who had remained trapped in their cars due to flooding.

 In the commune of Balestrate, a panoramic viewpoint fell onto a railway line, causing big disruptions to the train services, and there are floods all around the region. Many mayors have closed schools Monday.

 All the emergency services are working to try to secure the zone, as the huge amounts of rain also made other streams burst and caused the closure of the Palermo-Agrigento motorway in the Lercara Friddi zone. The rescue operations are very complicated.

 There has also been heavy rain and flooding in Calabria where a few families were evacuated as a precautionary measure in the Reggio Calabrian commune of Melito di Porto Salvo, and schools and roads have been closed all around.

 Weather conditions are expected to improve from Monday.

 nkd