At least ten people died and four were missing after heavy rains triggered widespread flooding in central Italy, putting climate change on the agenda in the week leading up to elections.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi confirmed the toll before driving to the town of Ostra near Ancona, one of the worst-hit places, as more than 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain fell over several hours on Thursday evening.

“It was scary because it happened so quickly. It sounded like a waterfall,” said Laura Marinelli, 33, who grabbed her 18-month-old daughter and ran upstairs to the neighbors when their ground-floor home near Ostra began flooding.

The water continued to rise and they climbed onto the roof to call for help.

“We’ve lost everything, all the photos, all the letters that you can’t replace,” she told AFP news agency as pink plastic toys floated in a sunken garden nearby.

AGI news agency previously reported that a child was among the missing after being washed away by its mother.

In the area around Ancona, the port capital of the central-eastern Marche region, roads have become rivers, cars have been swept into heaps by the tide, furniture has been washed out of homes and thick mud has been left everywhere.

The fire department said they had 300 people working on the flooding while several areas were without electricity or telephone connections and schools were closed.

At a planned press conference in Rome, Draghi announced five million euros in emergency aid for the area and expressed his “deep condolences” to the victims.

“At the moment we count 10 dead and four missing, but unfortunately the situation is evolving,” he said.

Draghi made an explicit link between the floods and global warming, saying: “We see concretely in what happened today how fundamental the fight against climate change is.”

The tragedy came just days before the September 25 general election, and condolences were sent to those affected from across the political spectrum.

Frontrunner Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who polls say could be the next prime minister, offered “full solidarity” to those affected.

Italy has been hit by a severe drought this year, followed by violent storms at the end of the summer, and many have made the connection to climate change – an issue that had faded into the background during the election campaign.

“How can you think that fighting climate change isn’t the top priority?” said Enrico Letta, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.

He said he was “stunned and speechless” at the news and announced he would suspend campaigning in Marche.

Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said their teams were helping.

“Very concerned about the increase in extreme weather events,” he said on Twitter.

This summer’s drought, the worst in 70 years, has drained the Po River, Italy’s largest water reservoir.

The sweltering heat has been followed by storms in recent weeks, and the water has flooded land that is hard as concrete.

In July, 11 people died when part of Italy’s largest Alpine glacier gave way in a disaster officials blamed on climate change.

EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, a former Italian prime minister, said he shed tears for victims of the Marche floods.

“Italy and Europe must take climate change seriously,” he tweeted.

Maurizio Greci, mayor of the town of Sassoferrato near Ancona, said apart from a general severe weather warning there was nothing to indicate “a disaster of this magnitude”.

“It’s something that hasn’t happened in this area in living memory,” he told Radio Capital, adding that most of the damage in his town was property.

The Italian Air Force, which deals with weather, said there had been an “extraordinary” weather event, with more than 400mm of rain falling between the afternoon and 23:00.

More than half of them fell within four hours, spokesman Guido Guidi told AFP, adding: “It was not a predictable event.”