Horror as dad and son swallowed by sinkhole in flood-ravaged Italy as ‘red alert’ issued for torrential rain and storms

A DAD and son have been killed after getting swallowed by a sinkhole in flood-ravaged Italy.

The north of the country has been battered by storms, causing massive disruption and even triggering landslides.

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Leone and Francesco Nardon, reportedly aged 65 and 34, were killed when the Nori bridge collapsed from under their car in the town of Valdagno on Thursday night.

The dad and son's tragic deaths come as thousands were left without power on Thursday due to the heavy rain in northern Italy.

Around 26,000 residents were plunged into darkness in the Aosta Valley region due to the flooding, Italy's Civil Protection Department said.

And at least a whopping 23 landslides have been reported in the region too, local media reports.

Homes had to be desperately evacuated by authorities due to "debris flows and rockfalls".

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.

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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.

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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.

"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.

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