Three dead in Italy after heavy flooding

ROME (Reuters) - Three people died after hours of torrential rain caused heavy flooding and mudslides in northeastern Sicily, authorities said on Wednesday, adjusting a previously reported total of four.

Rescue workers said a 24-year-old woman previously reported as dead had been pulled alive from a mud-filled building.

The local daily Il Giornale di Sicilia said on its website that emergency workers had found the bodies of a 10-year-old boy who had been at home with his mother as well those of as a 50-year-old man and his 20-year-old son.

Italy's Civil Protection agency said the deaths occurred after a number of buildings were submerged in mud in the town of Saponara, near Messina, late on Tuesday.

Television pictures showed the streets of the town turned into mud-filled watercourses with cars almost completely covered under the sludge.

More than 20 people have died after severe weather across Italy in recent weeks, with the heaviest impact felt in northern and central regions.

(Reporting By James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Heinrich)