One dead in flash flood in northern Italy

A woman has died after her car was swept away by a flash flood caused by torrential rain in the northern Italian Dolomites mountain range, emergency services say.

According to local media reports, the 60-year-old woman was driving home overnight when her car was hit by a torrent of water, rubble and debris after days of high temperatures turned into a storm.

Emergency services located the victim's car under debris in a river bed and the woman was pronounced dead at the site, the fire department said.

Meanwhile, wildfires broke out in the municipalities of Capena and Morlupo just outside Rome on Friday.

Large parts of Italy are sweltering in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in a heat wave nicknamed "Lucifer" that has fanned forest fires, triggered weather warning alerts and damaged crops.

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