 Worried officials monitored Italy's swelling rivers as severe winter weather sweeping across Europe brought more heavy rain and snow on Sunday, and authorities in Austria warned of a "substantial" risk of avalanches. In central Italy, authorities were forced to close roads and evacuate dozens of families from homes near rivers. Local and state personnel in the coastal community of Fiumicino, just west of Rome, kept a close eye on the ever-rising Tiber and booked about 800 beds at area hotels, the ANSA news agency reported. "We're not in an emergency, but in a state of alert," Guido Bertolaso, head of the Civil Protection Department, told reporters. |