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STORM

WATCH: Video shows wild storm on Lake Geneva

A video has emerged of the wild storm that claimed the life of a tourist on Lake Geneva on Saturday.

WATCH: Video shows wild storm on Lake Geneva
The storm brought wind gusts of up to 60 knots to Lake Geneva. Image: Bol d’Or Mirabaud

The video shows the conditions on the lake during the storm that slammed western Switzerland at around 5pm on Saturday afternoon bringing rain, hail and strong winds.

In the footage posted on Facebook, a yacht participating in the huge Bol d’Or Mirabaud regatta appears to capsize as it is buffeted by strong wind gusts that reached up to 50 knots an hour.

The storm caused an estimated 40 broken masts while a number of boats sank and several crew members went overboard, according to organisers. 

But a spokesperson for the event told The Local that sailors had displayed excellent seamanship. He said safety plans had worked perfectly and there had been no serious accidents.

However, in a separate incident which was unrelated to the yachting regatta, the stormy conditions on Lake Geneva claimed the life of a tourist who died when her sightseeing boat sank off Vésenaz.

Another man on the vessel was able to swim to another boat and set off flares, Geneva police said.

Three police boats and emergency services rushed to the scene. Police divers later retrieved the woman's body from the lake. 

The woman was taken to hospital in Geneva by Switzerland’s Rega air rescue services where she was declared dead, according to the AFP news agency.

The wild weather also caused problems across Geneva with emergency services called out over 500 times.

The clean-up continued on Sunday morning with hundreds of people taking part.

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FLOODS

Swiss storms: Town in Vaud hit by ‘flood of the century’

Storms described as 'unprecedented' hit the Swiss canton of Vaud overnight on Tuesday and left one town underwater.

Swiss storms: Town in Vaud hit by 'flood of the century'

The weather website meteonews.ch  described the storms that hit Vaud on Tuesday night as being “exceptional” and “unprecedented”. Another news site said it was the “flood of a century”.

Around one month’s rain fall fell in just an hour and caused major flooding in the town of Morges, which stands on the banks of Lake Geneva.

The river Morges broke its banks around 6pm and left much of the town underwater as images posted on social media reveal.

Roads and car parks were left underwater, houses and underground car parks were flooded.

One Morges resident told local media they had not seen scenes like it in 20 years of living there.

Some drivers were left stranded in flooded tunnels and had to be rescued.

The floods in Vaud come after the canton of Graubünden and the famous resort of Zermatt were it by flooding at the weekend.

The weather forecast for the coming days suggests more storms could hit parts of Switzerland at the weekend.

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