Summary A woman was crushed by a falling tree in Urbino in the Emilia Romagna region
ROME (AFP) - Heavy rains and strong winds ripped through Tuscany and northern Italy Thursday, killing two people and forcing the closure of roads, parks and cemeteries.
A woman was crushed by a falling tree in Urbino in the Emilia Romagna region while a man died behind the wheel of his car when it was hit by a rockfall near Lucca in Tuscany.
Winds of up to 180 kilometres (112 miles) an hour tore through the Riviera region of Liguria. In the port city of Genoa local authorities closed public spaces, including cemeteries, and banned motorbikes and scooters from circulating in some areas of the city.
In Tuscany, numerous schools shut their doors as gusts of up to 150 kilometres an hour were recorded, while on the island of Sardinia several ports were cut off after winds caused waves seven metres (23 feet) high.
The bad weather is forecast to ease across Italy from Friday.
