European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday pledged billions of euros in aid for Central European countries that suffered enormous damage to infrastructure and housing during the massive flooding that has so far claimed 24 lives in the region.

The north-east and central regions of Italy are being battered, days after the storm caused widespread flooding in central Europe.

A storm system that has wreaked havoc across central Europe brought devastating floods to the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna on Thursday for the second year in a row, forcing people to leave their homes and schools to close.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen has pledged billions of euros in aid for Central European countries that suffered enormous damage to infrastructure and housing during the massive flooding th

As our colleagues in BBC Weather point out, climate scientists have been warning us for years about extreme rainfall events like these as the planet warms. Heavy rain is expected over much of Italy over the next few days, with the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Lazio under yellow weather alerts.

At least a thousand people were evacuated as flooding hit northern Italian regions. The extreme weather has continued to affect other Central European countries as well, like Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic.