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The Minister of the Interior of France, Gérald Darmanin, reported this Friday, August 19, that the Government will declare as a “natural disaster” the strong storm that hit the island of Corsica on Thursday, where six people died, including a minor of 13 years. After the intense heat wave, several electrical storms hit the French territory, as well as Italy and Austria.
Violent electrical storms and hurricane winds of up to 224 kilometers per hour leave six people dead and a bleak panorama on the island of Corsica, in the south of France.
Given the situation, the government of President Emmanuel Macron will declare a “natural disaster” in the area, starting next Wednesday, August 24, when the Council of Ministers resumes at the end of the summer break. This was announced by the Minister of the Interior this Friday after visiting a camp in the town of Calvi, one of the hardest hit.
The measure “will allow affected companies to be compensated (by insurers) more quickly,” Darmanin explained.
Around 45,000 homes were left without power on the Mediterranean island, where dozens of residents were injured and 12 were hospitalized.
⛈️ #Storm | Six dead, including a minor, 12 injured and 45,000 people without power in #corsica, France, by storms. The gusts of wind have reached 224 km/hour.
The storm has also affected Tuscany, in Italy, with two deaths, and the island of Sardinia. pic.twitter.com/7G7W7ZxOtW
— CMM News (@CMM_news) August 19, 2022
Most fatalities were killed by falling trees and other objects; among them a 13-year-old girl, a 46-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman who died when the roof of a restaurant collapsed on her vehicle.
Likewise, local authorities confirmed the discovery of two other bodies: that of a 62-year-old fisherman, in the Gulf of Girolata, and that of a kayaker, in Erbalunga, in Cap Corse, in the extreme north of the island. .
From the historic heat wave to electrical storms: climate change does not let up
In recent days, storms have shaken some countries in Western Europe, after three waves of intense heat this 2022. Meanwhile, other nations in Central and Eastern Europe continue to suffer from suffocating temperatures and exceptional droughts.
On Thursday, August 18, in addition to Corsica, storms hit parts of Austria and Italy.
On Austrian soil, five people, including two girls aged four and eight, were killed when strong winds toppled trees into a lake in the Lavant Valley near the southern city of Graz.
Another 13 residents were injured, two of them seriously, authorities confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Italian regions of Tuscany and Veneto declared a state of emergency due to intense rains and winds. In Tuscany, two people were killed and four were injured in separate incidents when the weather phenomenon caused several trees to topple.
Meanwhile, in Venice, bricks fell from the famous bell tower of San Marco, in front of the iconic cathedral, where tourists had to be evacuated. In Saint Mark’s Square and other areas of the city, the storm overturned chairs and tables before the astonished gaze of passers-by.
“These were not ordinary winds for us,” said the caretaker of the Basilica and the bell tower, Carlo Alberto Tesserin.
In Liguria, in the north of the nation, a hail storm accompanied by dizzying winds shattered windows, damaged orchards and forced the closure of a train line southeast of Genoa.
A scenario that contrasted sharply with temperatures of up to 43 degrees Celsius in the south of the country.
With EFE and AP
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