MILAN — Nine members of two families were killed in the same house in Sicily when the torrential rains and high winds that have been lashing Italy caused a river to burst its banks Saturday night.

In just moments, rushing water filled the villa where the families were staying, drowning those inside.

A father and his daughter escaped harm because they had left the house to do some shopping. A third person climbed a tree to survive.

The deaths at the villa, in Casteldaccia in Palermo Province, brought the number of people killed in Sicily this weekend to 12. Three other people died in their cars hit by torrents of water.