WARSAW, Poland - The toll from Europe's killer cold snap hit at least 360 on Monday with nine new victims found in Poland, most of them homeless, and five drowned when a Bulgarian dam burst after torrential rain.

The rain and snowstorms lashing southern Bulgaria collapsed the dam early on Monday, submerging the small village of Biser under 2.5 meters of water, emergency services said.

Biser Mayor Zlatka Valkova told state news agency BTA three elderly men had drowned in their homes and a massive rescue effort was under way in the village of about 800 people. National radio reported two other people were killed when their car was swept off a bridge.

"People are in panic," Regional Mayor Mihail Liskov said on national radio. "Ninety percent of the village is under water."

Two larger dams in southern Bulgaria risked spilling over and residents were told to prepare to evacuate. Heavy rains also triggered a landslide that derailed a train near the Turkish border. No injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, temperatures in Poland plunged to as low as -24 C, bringing another deadly night for the homeless.

As has been the case throughout the 10-day-old cold snap, transients have borne the brunt of the suffering, with frozen victims found in abandoned and unheated homes, fire escapes or makeshift shelters on Europe's streets.

In a bid to save lives, Poland's homeless shelters have dropped a ban on drunken individuals.

Temperatures fell to -10 C in Milan on Monday as 59,000 households remained without electricity in Italy and officials declared a gas supply emergency.

"The situation is certainly critical because the flows from Russia and France have diminished but the situation is being monitored," Economic Development Minister Corrado Passera told reporters.

The death toll from the rare cold snap in Italy meanwhile rose to 17, with eight deaths reported on Sunday including three homeless people found in the seaside town of Ostia near Rome and at the capital's train station.

A 37-year-old Sri Lankan migrant was also found dead in a shack in Tuscany.

Snow began falling in the outskirts of Naples and snowed-in villages around Rome began organizing soup kitchens because of the power outage.

Schools and public offices in the Italian capital also remained closed.

The Abruzzo region declared a state of emergency and the army sent 530 soldiers and 90 snow ploughs and bulldozers to clear the roads. There were also major traffic delays in the port of Ancona and the Marche region.

A Greek ferry with 360 passengers, 160 trucks and 70 cars on board which arrived in Ancona on Sunday had still not unloaded because of the conditions.

Monika Golebiewska, a Warsaw police officer whose beat is a daily patrol bringing food and clothing to the homeless in the city's hardscrabble Praga district, said she has been unrelentingly busy since the cold snap started.

Agence France-Presse