The 45-year-old man is thought to have been hit and killed by his car, which was parked on a slope, as he tried to save it from the flood waters in the town of Forino, the sources said.
He was thought to have been working in a chestnut orchard at the time.
Major damage has been caused by the flooding, the sources said.
The floods occurred as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Emilia Romagna on Thursday after last week’s deadly floods there.
Scientists say that extreme weather events like heat waves, supercharged storms, flooding and droughts are becoming more frequent and more intense because of climate change caused by human greenhouse-gas emissions.
ANSA
