At least three people have died and several are missing after rivers overflowed due to heavy rain in central Italy, as Storm Ciarán continued to lash western Europe.

A bridge collapsed near the city of Pistoia, killing two people. Another person died in the town of Rosignano.

"Over 200 millimetres of rain have fallen in threehours," Luigi D'Angelo, who is leading the Civil Protection rescue efforts, told Sky TG24 television.

The governor of Tuscany said there were challenging issues around two large rivers in the area, the Bisenzio, north of Florence, and the Ombrone, in the southern part of the region.

"The situation is problematic, the River Arno is expected to reach a peak around midday in Florence, but there are no particular worries about this if it stops raining," said Governor Eugenio Giani.

Patients from three separate hospitals had to be moved to other facilities and many buildings were seriously damaged, Mr Giani added.

The defence ministry was supporting rescue efforts sending helicopters, trucks and water pumps to the flood-hit areas, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a statement.

Italy's Civil Protection agency yesterday issued a warning of heavy rain and strong winds in central and southern Italy,

There was a high alert "red code" for Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia in the north of the country, and a medium alert "orange code" for nine other regions.

Another person went missing in the Veneto region, the local governor was quoted as saying by Sky TG24.

Storm Ciarán, which follows on the heels of Storm Babet two weeks ago, was driven by a powerful jet stream that swept in from the Atlantic.

It unleashed heavy rain and strong winds that caused flooding in Ireland, parts of the UK, Belgium, Netherlands and France.