Status: 08/18/2022 8:55 p.m
There have been severe storms in a number of regions in southern and central Europe. Several people were killed – six alone on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Rail traffic had to be stopped in the south of Austria.
Heavy thunderstorms with storms up to hurricane strength have cost at least ten lives in France, Italy and Austria. Tuscany, Corsica and Carinthia were hit hard.
As France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced during a visit to Corsica in the evening, six people died in the storm on the island. 20 people were injured, this is a preliminary balance sheet. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged support for the island and its residents. A crisis team was formed at Macron’s vacation spot on the Côte d’Azur in the evening, with the participation of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
Gusts with a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour had swept over Corsica. 45,000 households were temporarily without electricity. There were also storms and flooded streets in other parts of France, such as in Marseille.
Pieces of wall broken off from St. Mark’s Basilica
In Tuscany, a man and a woman were hit by falling trees near Lucca and in the coastal town of Carrara, several media reported. There was a severe weather warning for the north of the country to South Tyrol and large parts of central Italy. Some people suffered injuries in the violent storms with more than 100 kilometers per hour and heavy rain, for example at a campsite in Marina di Massa, Tuscany, when trees fell there.
A violent storm also swept through the northern Italian lagoon city of Venice, knocking down umbrellas and tables in the streets. According to the Ansa news agency, pieces of the wall broke off the church tower at the famous St. Mark’s Basilica in Zentrum. The civil defense also called a crisis team in the afternoon because of the storms in central and northern Italy.
Sections of St. Mark’s Square in Venice had to be closed after stones fell from some of the famous structures.
Image: AFP
Two children die at a bathing lake
There were also severe storms in southern Austria. As reported by the police and the Red Cross, several trees fell at a small bathing lake in St. Andrä in the state of Carinthia. Two children died and around ten other people were injured, some seriously. According to the state meteorological service ZAMG, storm speeds of up to 139 km/h were measured in southern Austria.
In Styria, Carinthia and East Tyrol, rail traffic was completely stopped after the power supply to the overhead lines failed due to the storm.