Officials blame storm for three deaths in northern Italy CORTINA, Italy, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Searchers Friday found the body of an 80-year-old woman who fell into a rain-swollen river in northeastern Italy and drowned, officials said. Officials blame bad weather for at least three deaths in northern Italy in the past week, including the drowning of the octogenarian near Treviso, ANSA reported. Power remained out Friday for tens of thousands of residents in the Italian resort community of Cortina and other towns in the Veneto Dolomites after a wave of heavy snow and high winds socked the region Friday. The storms that began battering Italy Thursday are part of a system that dumped heavy rains that raised river levels and brought high winds that knocked out power in parts of Europe on Christmas. Officials in Britain blamed five deaths on the storm that disrupted the holiday in the British Isles, Spain and France. ANSA reported about 20 people trapped in their vehicles by snow were rescued Thursday after being forced to spend the night in their vehicles. The storm also prompted the evacuation of about 18 families after a landslide enveloped two apartment buildings in a Genoa suburb, officials said. Two families had to be evacuated from their homes in Premana after a mudslide rolled over parts of the town. The bad weather also curtailed rail and ferry service in Italy, ANSA said. Torrential rain brought high water to Venice, with officials reporting water levels in canals nearly 4 feet above normal.