Italy now! All of Sicily under water! Houses are floating on the roads! People are hiding!
Residents in Milan reported torrential rain and hail early Tuesday morning that flooded streets and uprooted trees, many of which fell on parked cars.
Transportation authorities reported severe damage to the city’s power grid, and an AFP journalist reported that water was temporarily shut off in the historic center.
Firefighters said the situation was “very serious“, reporting more than 200 calls for help across Milan since 4am
But even though the north was wet, the heat wave in the south persisted, with a temperature of 47.6 degrees Celsius recorded in the eastern Sicilian city of Catania on Monday
Italy suffered a double disaster as severe storms battered the north, killing a woman and a 16-year-old girl scout, while southern regions were battered by a heat wave that sent temperatures soaring. record highs.
The government was preparing emergency measures to help regions hit by the extreme weather, with the northern region of Lombardy, which includes Milan, estimating damage at more than 100 million euros ($110 million)
A prolonged heatwave in parts of northern and western Europe has ended with torrential downpours and thunderstorms this week.
In some parts, 50-65 mm of rain fell in a few hours, due to which the airport delayed and canceled dozens of flights.
Italy, France and Belgium also experienced extreme weather conditions, with thunderstorms in the Italian region causing thousands of lightning strikes on Thursday and 4-5cm hail.
Gusts of wind were also recorded near , due to which the railways were suspended. A strong thunderstorm injured another dozen due to falling trees and collapsed roofs. That same storm produced wind gusts in excess of 130 miles per hour,
Torrential rains, combined with dry soil from an unrelenting summer, have led to significant flash flooding in these regions. Such large cities have experienced serious disruptions in the transport infrastructure, streets are flooded with water, and metro stations are closed.