About 250 people were evacuated from their homes Friday after the equivalent of a month's worth of rain fell in six hours, flooding streets and swelling waterways in Tuscany, the region where Florence is located.

"The important flood peak of the Arno passed along the entire length without any critical issues," Tuscany's president, Eugenio Giani, wrote on social media Saturday.

Still, Giani said he would ask the government to declare a national emergency.

Rescue teams were still responding to various critical situations in towns outside Florence, and further west towards Pisa.

A newborn baby and two elderly people were among seven people near Pisa blocked in their homes by the flooding and rescued by firefighters Saturday, Giani said.

Firefighter videos taken from helicopters showed muddy, churning water flowing in the swollen Arno, and one area where a hillside had washed out from the rains.

Light rain on Saturday was expected to taper off by evening.

- 'Made the difference' -

Giani said the region's floodgate and expansion basins were "decisive" in lowering the threat to the famous Renaissance city of Florence and surrounding areas along the Arno's path.

"In these difficult hours, the hydraulic safety system of the region has made the difference despite the intense and persistent rainfall," he said.

On Saturday morning, the level of the Arno was at 3.87 metres (12.7 feet) and slowly receding, said Florence mayor Sara Funaro, who added that the levels of all tributaries had fallen below warning levels.

On Friday evening, the river had surpassed four metres, still below the 5.5-metre threshold that would have activated a further alert.

A red weather alert for the Florence area remained in effect until midday Saturday, with parks, cemeteries, markets, museums and libraries closed.

In other nearby areas, the red alert was extended until midnight.

The Arno, which flows west through Florence and Pisa, is prone to flooding in spring and fall.

A floodgate located between the two cities, which authorities ordered opened Friday afternoon, "literally knocked down the Arno flood wave that was rising," Giani said.

Construction of the floodgate began after a devastating flood in 1949. But it was not completed in time to help avert another massive flood in 1966 which killed over 100 people and destroyed or damaged countless works of art.

Approximately 500 firefighters worked over the past 24 hours to carry out 430 interventions in the provinces of Florence, Prato, Pisa and Livorno, including rescues, due to flooding, landslides, the fire service said.

As of Friday evening, 248 people had been evacuated from nine different communities, the regional authorities said.

Friday's red weather alert caused Florence's world-famous Uffizi Galleries to close early, along with the Duomo cathedral.

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