The bodies of a woman and one of her children were found near Lamezia Terme on Friday after a storm that is part of a wave of bad weather that is battering southern Italy. Rescuers are searching for the woman's other child, who is missing, with Calabria set to request for a state of emergency to be declared.
The victims' bodies were found by firefighters on a river bed in the towns of San Pietro a Maida and San Pietro Lametino.
The woman's husband raised the alarm overnight when she failed to return home.
Her car was found empty with the indicators flashing at San Pietro Lametino. The extreme weather caused flooding and landslides in many parts of Calabria, forcing many families to be evacuated from their homes, with the province of Catanzaro hit particularly hard.
Some 16 people had to be rescued from rooftops that they had scaled to get away from the floodwaters.
The the Ponte delle Grazie bridge on provincial highway 19 in the area collapsed during the storms.
"The situation in Calabria caused by the exceptional wave of bad weather that has hit the whole region is getting increasingly dramatic," said Governor Mario Oliverio.
"In the next few hours we will make a request (to central government) for a state of emergency (to be declared)".
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