ROME -Torrential rains triggered a landslide in the southern Italian province of Caserta, forcing evacuations, and rescuers were searching for a woman and her adult son on Wednesday who were missing and feared to have died.

The bad weather hit the town of San Felice a Cancello, a small town about 30 km (20 miles) northeast of Naples, and nearby municipalities, on Tuesday afternoon.

The pair, a woman in her 70s and her son in his 40s, were travelling in a three-wheeler what was overwhelmed by the landslide. Emergency services found its mangled wreck in the mud.

"We hope that they jumped out ... and may still be alive somewhere, but from what the experts tell me, there isn't a lot of hope," local mayor Emilio Nuzzo told Italian media.

The fire brigade said on X that 10 search squads had been deployed to find the pair, and that the landslide had forced people to be evacuated from their homes.

Severe weather hit other parts of Italy on Tuesday as well, with violent thunderstorms and hail in the Milan and Como areas and the Tuscan seaside.

  - Reuters