AT least 17 people have been killed in flooding and hundreds made homeless after a cylone swept over the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

The Italian government declared a state of emergency after Cyclone Cleopatra dropped 18 inches of rain in an hour and a half overnight, causing rivers to burst their banks, sweeping away cars and flooding homes across the island.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta said: "This is a national tragedy,."

The declaration of a state of emergency will allow resources to be freed up more quickly to reach devastated areas, with swathes of the island under muddy flood waters that covered cars and swamped houses.

The government also set aside £17million in emergency funds to help the rescue and clean-up work.

The mayor of Olbia, the northeastern Sardinian town among the worst-affected areas, said the sudden flooding had burst "like a bomb" with the same amount of water falling in 90 minutes as falls in Milan in six months.

Mayor Gianni Giovannelli said houses had been left half-submerged by the floods and rescuers were still searching for victims.

He added: "We've just found a dead child we had been searching all night for."

The disaster raised questions about how well prepared Italy's cash-strapped local governments, under increasing financial pressure after more than two years or recession, are to deal with sudden emergencies.

"We're facing an exceptional event here which has put our system of territorial planning and management into crisis," said Antonello Frau, deputy head of the island's geological service.

Legambiente, Italy's main environmental group, said the disaster showed there was an urgent need to step up measures to handle floods and other disasters, a call backed by the national geological council.

The Red Cross said hundreds of people had been forced out of their homes and into temporary shelters set up in sports halls and other centres.

Regional governor Ugo Cappellacci said: "The situation is tragic."