Italy is experiencing one of the “most complicated moments of the last decades”, “due to the storms, tornadoes and hailstorms in the north and the scorching heat and devastating fires in the center-south”, says the Italian Civil Protection Minister, Nello Musumeci.
In Milan there was a spectacular electrical storm, accompanied by lightning and sudden gusts of wind, which have caused significant damage in the city. Numerous streets have been flooded and dozens of trees have fallen, while two people have died in the north of the country.
The storms, considered almost cyclones by meteorologists, that are affecting northern Italy claimed their first victim on Monday in Lissone, in the province of Monza, when a tree fell on the car of a 58-year-old woman who was going to work. In the province of Brescia, a 16-year-old girl who was in a camp also died from a falling tree.
The storm over Milan has also caused some injuries due to falling trees. In addition, it has caused serious damage to the Milanese transport electrical network and “several points of the city and some depots are without electricity, while fallen trees and debris on the roads block the normal routes of the lines,” reported ATM, the city’s public transport company.
The download has not only affected Milan, but also other cities such as Gerenzano. The neighbors have recorded some moments of the spectacular electrical storm, also accompanied by strong gusts of wind and large balls of hail.
Meanwhile, the heat does not let up in the center and south of the country, reaching temperatures above 45 degrees in Sicily and Sardinia. There, the fires are of particular concern, especially the Palermo area, where the flames have come to threaten the airport, which has had to remain closed for several hours.
In their extinction work, the firefighters have had to evacuate 1,500 people due to the flames that threaten the entire peripheral mountainous area of ??Palermo, reported Civil Protection. The most affected towns have been Alimenusa, Gangi, Blufi, Misilmeri, Cefalù Bolognetta, Santa Flavia, Villabate, Partinico, San Cipirrello and Corleone.
