Severe storms have hit northern Italy following a heat wave. The areas most affected were Lombardy, including the capital Milan, and the north-eastern region of Piedmont, media reported. Streets were flooded and trees were uprooted.
In Feletto near Turin, a man was swept away by the floods of the Orco river while working on a tractor in the fields, the news agency Ansa reported. He initially remained missing, and the search continued.
In Milan, where rivers also overflowed their banks, some quarters near Lambro Park were evacuated. In Italy’s second-largest city, Radio Popolare stopped broadcasting because of the storm – for the first time since it was founded in 1976, as director Lorenza Ghidini told Ansa. Broadcasting was able to resume after a few hours.
In the Palace of Justice in the Lombardy capital, the atrium and some corridors were under water after flash floods during the night. Trains arrived in Milan with delays of up to two hours.
Flooding was also reported in Liguria on Italy’s north-western Mediterranean coast. There was considerable damage to agriculture in the Albenga plain near Savona.
On Tuesday, an unusually heavy storm hit the Italian capital Rome. On Thursday, sudden heavy rain was also reported from Bari in Apulia on the heel of the Italian boot. Among other things, an underpass was flooded.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240905-930-224260/1
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