At least seven people died when violent storms lashed central Italy and flooded roads and homes, authorities told AFP on Friday.

Three people were missing, including a six-year-old child travelling in a car. The mother was rescued but the child was washed away by the floodwaters, the AGI news agency said. 

"According to the local prefecture, the provisional death toll is seven. The seventh body has just been found," a civil protection agency spokesman said, confirming reports in the local media.

The worst hit area was Ancona, a port city on the Adriatic, where several areas were without electricity or telephone connections. Schools were closed Friday in the affected zones.

The storms also lashed neighbouring Umbria. 

The Corriere della Sera newspaper said about 400 millimetres (16 inches) of rain fell in two hours -- about the quantity normally recorded in six months in this zone.