The number of people killed in mudslides caused by heavy rains in southern Italy will rise to 50, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has warned.
Rescuers are still searching for some 40 people still missing after the country's worst mudslides for 10 years.
Twenty-one deaths and 80 injuries have been confirmed since torrential rains caused violent mudslides around the Sicilian city of Messina early Friday.
The mudslides swept away cars, toppled buildings and blocked transport links.
"In the end there'll be at least 50 dead," Mr Berlusconi told reporters in the early hours of Saturday.
He reportedly called off a visit to the region as he did not want to get in the way of rescue efforts.
Some 250 mm (10 inches) of rain fell on north-eastern Sicily in just a few hours before dawn on Friday, sparking widespread floods.
In places people did not have time to scramble out of their cars before they were struck by a wall of mud that swamped entire streets.
Many Italian newspapers on Saturday questioned why houses had been built so close to river-beds and the seafront in an area known to be at risk of landslides.
Analysts suggest deforestation and over-development had weakened the soil on the hills surrounding Messina, increasing the likelihood of mudslides in heavy rainfall.
A massive mudslide near Naples in 1998 killed some 150 people.
