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CLIMATE

One killed by tornado as storms hit Sicily

A tornado has killed a 53-year-old man on the island of Sicily as well as injuring others and damaging buildings and farmland.

Published: 17 November 2021 15:52 CET
Rescue services attend to damage in Sicily caused by the whirlwind.
Rescue services attend to damage in Sicily caused by the whirlwind. Photo: Vigili del Fuoco/Twitter

Further devastation was reported in Sicily on Wednesday after several waves of bad weather struck the island in recent weeks.

A whirlwind hit the districts of Trebalate, Serrameta, Sant’ Elena and Bosco in the south-east of the island, killing one man in the province of Ragusa, Italian media reports.

The 53-year-old victim was reportedly hit head-on by a door that had been ripped off by the wind.

The latest storm has increased the death count following repeated extreme weather events in Sicily and Calabria a few weeks ago which killed three people and submerged city streets and squares.

According to reports, the man had left his house to secure a railing that had been damaged by the strong wind without realising the danger he was in.

Police are at the scene, as the rain and strong winds that continue to affect the Ragusa area blew out telephone connections. Downed trees, collapsed walls and damage to businesses and infrastructure have also been reported.

National rescue services have been working to deal with the whirlwind’s devastation in Ragusa since the morning hours.

A married couple in their sixties has also been injured.

“An extremely violent wave of bad weather has been affecting our territory for several hours now,” said the mayor of Modica Ignizo Abbate.

“There has been a great deal of damage to homes, farms and infrastructure… I urge everyone not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary,” he added.

READ ALSO: Climate crisis: The Italian cities worst affected by flooding and heatwaves

The Department of Civil Protection has announced that there is intense rain in the province of Ragusa and there is continuous rainfall in the area, placing the southern part of Sicily and the eastern side of Sardinia under an orange alert (heavy rainfall, landslide and flood risk).

Eight other regions have been placed under a yellow weather warning (localised heavy and potentially dangerous rainfall).

The Department is responsible for predicting, preventing and managing emergency events across the country, and uses a green, yellow, orange and red graded colour coding system for weather safety reports.

Green signifies calm and stable conditions, while a red weather warning is issued only in the event of widespread, very intense and persistent conditions that pose a threat to public safety.

The continuing bad weather comes after severe storms battered southern Italy earlier this month, after a cyclone brought thunderstorms and cold weather.

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WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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