ROME, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Ongoing heavy rain in Italy is causing rivers to burst their banks creating widespread flooding in Salerno and Veneto, officials say.
In Salerno, the rain crumbled an aqueduct leaving the province along with 13 other municipalities without water, ANSA reported Wednesday.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi has allocated more than $400 million to help Veneto.
"With this allocation of funding we are following up on the promises we made yesterday when we said there would be an immediate intervention," Berlusconi said.
Thousands of acres of Veneto farmland are under water, burying entire crops of tobacco, fruit and vegetables, and more than 150,000 livestock have drowned, the Coldiretti farmers' union said.
Berlusconi said mortgage payments of people hit by the meteorological emergency will be suspended because of an agreement with the Italian Banking Association, which will also make almost $1 billion available in business and family loans, ANSA said.
