Severe weather warnings have been issued across Italy . In Sicily, two cars ended up in the Crisa River in Leonforte, in the province of Enna, due to heavy rains. While two people were reportedly rescued by firefighters, a third—according to survivors—is missing.
The Civil Protection Department has issued an orange alert for tomorrow, Wednesday, August 20, for parts of Liguria and Lombardy, and a yellow alert for the remaining areas of the two regions, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Tuscany, and some areas of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Marche.
Lorenzo Tedici, meteorologist and media manager at iLMeteo.it, explains that the next few hours will see the last spike in temperatures across much of the country. In a few days, highs will drop as much as 10 degrees, especially in the north.
In short, temperatures will drop from 40 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius during the central hours of the day. Due to weather alerts, Palazzo Marino in Milan has activated the municipal Civil Protection operations center and decided to close parks tomorrow, August 20th. The municipality of Bergamo has also decided to close parks and gardens. A van with Slovenian license plates was struck by a large branch that suddenly broke loose this afternoon near the Arena and Sempione Park in Milan; the driver and the two other people on board were fortunately unharmed despite the force of the impact.
A third violent storm in three days has hit Arezzo in the past few hours . The rainfall has caused flooding in several parts of the city, creating traffic problems. Roads and underpasses were flooded. Several trees fell onto the northbound carriageway of the Perugia-Bettolle motorway. This afternoon, a severe thunderstorm hit the Umbrian capital, bringing rain, lightning, and at times strong winds.
Two road accidents due to slippery asphalt on state road 131, with several injured people taken to hospital, an uprooted tree and a large branch falling on a car, are the results of a day of bad weather, yesterday, in Sardinia , where hailstorms were recorded in the mountains of Nuoro, Ogliastra and Campidano, accompanied by thunderstorms and local showers.
The Cagliari countryside is counting the damage following the violent waves of bad weather that in the last few hours have hit numerous businesses, particularly in the areas of Monastir, Pimentel, Barrali, Senorbì, and the greater Cagliari area, but with repercussions also across a much wider area.
Torrential rains and hail devastated crops, fodder crops, and farm structures, causing serious damage to farmers and ranchers . Vineyards and olive groves, including many organic farms, paid the highest price. "In just a few hours, entire rows of vines were knocked down or irreversibly damaged," laments Coldiretti.
(Unioneonline)
