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Two dead as northern Italy battered by severe storms

Two people died on Thursday and around a hundred others were evacuated in Tuscany, local authorities said, as storms, heavy rain and hail hit many parts of northern Italy.

Published: 18 August 2022 15:48 CEST
Updated: 18 August 2022 19:07 CEST
Bad weather in Montpellier, France
Incidents including flash floods and lightning strikes are becoming more common in Italy, data shows. Pascal GUYOT / AFP

Both victims were hit by falling trees, local media reports said.

Four people were injured by toppling trees at the seaside camping site of Marina di Massa, while four others were rushed to hospital in the medieval town of Barga after the car they were travelling in was hit by a torn-off roof, according to local news site Toscana in Diretta.

READ ALSO: How the climate crisis is hitting Europe hard

The civil protection agency prepared emergency accommodation in schools and gyms for those forced from their homes after bad weather toppled trees and tore off roofs in the area.

Several regions reported serious incidents involving both people and property on Thursday.

High winds sweeping through St Mark’s Square in Venice on Thursday dislodged fragments from its famous belltower, according to the AGI new agency.

The city of Milan meanwhile ordered public parks to be closed on Friday and urged residents to avoid leaving their cars under trees.

Photos and videos shared on social media on showed the damage caused to homes and businesses in the Liguria region after severe storms hit the north-western coast of Italy overnight.

Winds of up to 120km/h hit the coast, while heavy rain reportedly caused damage to power lines and the Genoa-La Spezia railway.

The mayor of Sestri Levante, on Liguria’s coast, said homes, businesses and beach facilities had been “heavily hit” and the local authority had “requested a ‘state of calamity’ given the extraordinary extent of the damage.”

Hailstones of up to 4-5 centimetres in diameter were reported in the Ligurian provinces of Chiavari and Sestri Levante.

In Boara, near Ferrara (Emilia-Romagna), a whirlwind (tromba d’aria in Italian) caused the collapse of a construction crane.

No one was reported injured in the incident, though the crane caused serious damage to three houses located in the area.

READ ALSO: Europe facing record year for wildfire destruction: EU

The extreme weather was being caused by masses of low-pressure air moving south, according to reports.

According to the latest forecasts, extreme weather will continue to affect the north of the country until at least Friday, when the low-pressure area currently wreaking havoc across the northern regions might finally ease off.

The Italian Civil Protection department issued an amber alert for Lombardy and Veneto for Friday, August 19th, whereas a lower-level yellow alert will be in place for all the other regions in the north of the country.

Experts say climate change driven by human activity is boosting the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts and wildfires.

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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