Pounding
thunderstorms swept across northern Italy on Wednesday night,
triggering floods and landslides and forcing the evacuation of
at least 1,000 residents as well as a hospital in the city of
Fossano.
The storms
moved into Italy from France, where six people were killed on
Tuesday. Officials in southern France said the weather was the
worst to hit the region in a century.
Italian state
television RAI reported that the storms had caused extensive damage
to property and crops in the northwestern region of Piedmont.
Hail in the city of Trentino ruined apple orchards. Streets were
flooded and trees felled in the port city of Genoa.
Evacuations
were prompted in the Alpine community of Lodrone after a mountain
slope began sliding under the onslaught of the torrential rains.
Homes in several areas in the Pieve di Livinallongo in the Dolomite
Alps had roofs ripped off and trees and lamp posts toppled.
Railway service
along the Adriatic coast was disrupted by the powerful storm.
Officials
from the Agricultural Development Institute of Lombardy reported
that almost 2,000 lightning strikes had been recorded in that
region on Wednesday.
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