Man dies as Mediterranean hurricane batters southern Italy

PALERMO, Sicily - Fierce storms battered southern Italy for a second day on Monday, killing at least one person, triggering landslides and leaving roads and fields flooded, police said.

The body of a 67-year-old man was recovered in a citrus grove, far from where he was last seen after his car got hit by rising waters and mud, southwest of the Sicilian city of Catania. His wife is still missing, emergency services said.

Italian weather site Ilmeteo.it said parts of Sicily and the adjacent toe of Italy, Calabria, were being pounded by a rare Mediterranean hurricane, known as a Medicane, with winds expected to gust up to 120 kmph (75 mph) later on Monday.