Series of Strong Quakes Rattle Central Italy Months After Disaster That Killed 297 A number of already-damaged historic churches crumbled during the temblors.

 -- Thousands of people fled their homes in a panic as a series of strong quakes struck central Italy on Wednesday night, the same area devastated by an August temblor that killed nearly 300 people.

A magnitude 5.5 quake first struck on Wednesday evening at 7:10 p.m. local time near the town of Sellano, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. Just over two hours later, at 9:18 p.m., a second, stronger 6.1 magnitude temblor rattled the same area, this time centered near the town of Visso.

Thousands of people remained out of doors through the night, many in their cars, as a series of seven aftershocks of magnitude 4 or greater -- all clustered around the same area -- kept the ground trembling in the hours that followed.

"Many houses collapsed," the mayor of hard-hit Ussita, Marco Rinaldi, told Sky TG24. "The facade of the church collapsed. By now I have felt many earthquakes. This is the strongest of my life. It was something terrible."

A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack, possibly brought on by the quakes, local authorities told the ANSA news agency.

This morning, rescue workers are still trying to assess the full extent of the damage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.