After going down briefly on Saturday, the river could swell from rain expected to last through Tuesday, the agency told Corriere della Sera.

"We can't exclude another flood. We're examining the situation and we are taking necessary measures so that all remains under control if that's the case," the head of the civil protection force Guido Bertolaso told the daily.

A young Irish man who fell into the river late overnight Friday was still missing feared drowned.

Heavy rain and strong winds have killed four people in Italy since Wednesday.

earlier related report
Tiber Hits Record Levels
The waters of the Tiber in Rome hit a record level overnight, Italian authorities said Saturday, as a young man was feared drowned after falling into the swollen river.

Italian media reports said the man was Irish and had come to the Italian capital for a wedding. He was believed to have been drunk when he fell into the river while taking a photo.

Firemen in dinghies were searching the river for him early Saturday.

So far four people are known to have died in the bad weather which has buffeted the country since Wednesday. The latest victim was a young man killed in a car accident caused by the heavy rain, the national news agency ANSA said.

The river reached its maximum level at 1:00 am (0000 GMT) but the situation had "stabilised, although the spate is not over yet", the city's mayor Gianni Alemanno was quoted as saying Saturday by ANSA.

Emergency services were also working on trying to free three boats which had got stuck under one of the city's historic bridges, the Ponte Sant'Angelo below the landmark castle. They were also securing the moorings of pleasure craft and other boats which were adrift.

While Saturday morning was sunny in the Italian capital, after several days of rain and high winds, weathermen forecast more rainfall for Sunday.

On Thursday the head of the civil protection force Guido Bertolaso said the level of the Tiber in the past few days had not been seen for 40 years.

More rain fell in the night of Wednesday to Thursday in Rome than the average rainfall for the whole month of December, the weather centre said.

earlier related report
Rome's Tiber in spate, one person reported missing
City authorities are keeping a close eye on Rome's swollen Tiber River but do not expect it to burst its banks, officials said Friday.

The river rose 1.5 metres (five feet) at the Milvio Bridge in the centre of the city in the space of a few hours on Friday, the ANSA news agency reported.

"The situation is being monitored very closely," Giovanni Menduni, head of the civil protection service's natural disasters unit, told the ANSA news agency, adding however that the Tiber "will not overflow into the streets".

Some sections of the river north of the Italian capital have overflowed, "but the Tiber is not expected rise higher than the embankments," Menduni said.

Backwash from sewers remains a risk in the Italian capital, he said, adding that the river is expected to reach a high point at around 8 pm (1900 GMT).

The army said it has prepared seven helicopters equipped with winches if needed by the civil protection services.

More rain fell on Rome in a single night Wednesday than the average total for December rainfall, the weather observatory said.

The stormy weather claimed a third life in Italy overnight when a 55-year-old man was killed when a bridge collapsed in southern Calabria because of heavy flooding, ANSA said.

Also in Calabria, a 76-year-old man died of a heart attack after a tree branch fell onto his car, while on the outskirts of Rome a woman drowned in her car after being trapped in a flooded underpass.

Two die in Greece amid thunderstorms
Two people died in Greece amid thunderstorms and winds packing up to 102 kilometres (64 miles) per hour that have confined ships to port, the merchant marine ministry said on Friday.

A 38-year-old woman and her 18-year-old daughter drowned on Thursday when their car fell into the harbour of Poros on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, the ministry said.

The authorities were alerted by the victim's 16-year-old son who managed to get out of the vehicle, the ministry said.

In a related incident, the Greek ferry Pasiphae inbound from Italy sustained a two-metre (6.5 feet) dent in its hull when it rammed into the jetty in the western port city of Patras, the ministry said. All 102 passengers disembarked safely.

Storms nationwide flooded dozens of homes in Athens, the Peloponnese and central Greece, the fire department said.

Conditions are expected to improve from midday.

Ships confined to port in Greece after storms
Greece authorities have confined all vessels to port following thunderstorms and winds packing up to 102 kilometres (64 miles) per hour, the merchant marine ministry said on Friday.

The Greek ferry Pasiphae inbound from Italy sustained a two-metre dent in its hull when it rammed into the jetty in the western port city of Patras, it said. All 102 passengers disembarked safely.

Storms nationwide have flooded dozens of homes in Sparta in the Peloponnese and Volos in central Greece, the fire department said.

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