ROME: Freak storms and flash flooding following last week´s heatwave in Italy claimed three lives this weekend, including a young woman caught up in a mini-tornado near Rome´s Fiumicino airport.

The 26-year-old woman was driving home at around 2:00 am Sunday when the mini-tornado lifted her car and sent it crashing against a railing.

The highly localised winds tore up trees and scattered debris across the zone it hit.

Further north, a 45-year-old Norwegian competing in an ultramarathon in the Dolomite Mountains died after being hit by lightning as he ran at 2,000 metres altitude on Saturday afternoon. And on Sunday, near Arezzo, south of Florence in the northern Tuscany region, a 70-year-old man died after his car got caught by flash-flooding.

The emergency services found his body in a mud-filled canal.

Coldiretti, Italy´s main agricultural organisation, said hail storms over the last 24 hours had caused millions of euros worth of damage across the country.

Worst hit was the Arezzo province in Tuscany, they said. Orchards, as well as fields of tobacco, sunflowers and corn were completely destroyed, they said. </s> CLOSE Violent storms produced flooding and tornadoes in parts of Texas and Louisiana. At least five people were killed by the severe weather. USA TODAY

Violent storms unleashed floods and tornadoes across Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving at least five people dead.

The threat for rough weather will continue Friday, the National Weather Service said. Severe thunderstorms are possible across the mid-Atlantic region, and strong winds and tornadoes are both possible in eastern portions of North Carolina and Virginia.

Two people were killed early Thursday in Ruston, in north-central Louisiana, after a tornado ripped through the town and the Louisiana Tech University campus around 2:30 a.m. local time.

"I've never seen it this bad in my 43 years. It's tragic, and it's going to be a while before we can get all this cleaned up," Lincoln Parish Sheriff Mike Stone said.

Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker confirmed the two fatalities.

"It's bad; real bad," Walker said. "We took a direct hit."

Late Thursday afternoon, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency for the entire state due to the fierce storms.

The National Weather Service said the tornado was rated an EF-3, which means its wind speeds were in the 136 to 165 mph range.

Weather service hydrologist C. S. Ross says it appears the tornado cut a track over 130 miles from eastern Texas to the Louisiana-Arkansas border.

The same cluster of thunderstorms produced flooding and severe weather in Texas on Wednesday, the Weather Channel reported.

THE AFTERMATH - We're live over Ruston as we get our first view of tornado damage seen in the daylight over the region. These storms did kill at least two people as confirmed by the mayor earlier. pic.twitter.com/kAK5vIHcUT — WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) April 25, 2019

About 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth, a woman and two children were killed when the family's car was caught in rushing flood waters, authorities said. The incident occurred at about 6 a.m. in what's usually a small creek just outside Dublin.

The Weather Channel said the threat of severe weather, including possible large hail and tornadoes, will continue to move into the Southeast on Thursday night before shifting toward the mid-Atlantic on Friday.

A long-tracked supercell thunderstorm crossed from Deep East Texas into west-central Louisiana and into the ArkLaMiss overnight. We will be surveying along this swath over the next several days. At this time, we cannot confirm a tornado was on the ground along this entire path. pic.twitter.com/Ieuk3yUZBw — NWS Shreveport (@NWSShreveport) April 25, 2019

Thursday's opening of the New Orleans Jazz Fest was delayed because of the storms, the event organizers said. The PGA golf tournament in New Orleans was also delayed for several hours because of lightning.

Contributing: The Associated Press; The News-Star (Monroe, La.)

Storms smashed through Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, early on April 25, 2019. (Photo: News-Star)

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Heavy storms across central Italy kill three people and cause damages. One death was caused by lightning, one by a tornado, and one by getting caught in a flood.