Il bad weather returns to hit Northern Italy, this time in Lombardy and Veneto. On Tuesday night, a violent storm crashed on Milan. The thunderstorm, accompanied by lightning and sudden gusts of wind similar to downburst it also affected part of Brianza and the northern area of Lombardy.
Milan was overwhelmed by very strong winds and heavy rains which in a short time caused road flooding. Residents were awakened by sounds of wind, thunder and, in some areas, a hailstorm "It's the apocalypse", “never seen anything like this” scared people wrote on social media.
Well yes they also record casualties. Yesterday, a woman was crushed by a collapsed tree while tonight, a 16-year-old scout died when she was hit by a tree while she was in a tent at a summer camp in Cedegolo, in the Brescia area.
Moments of fear in Milan
The Milanese were awakened around four in the morning by lightning, thunder and a storm of gusts of wind and torrential rain. The short but intense rain also caused flooding in several homes, with water leaking from the walls and ceiling, entering through doors and windows.
Numerous roads are blocked due to fallen trees on the roadway, many of which have caused windblown branches, logs and debris to accumulate. Hundreds of scooters and dumpsters were overturned by gusts of wind. In addition, many trees have fallen on the power lines of surface public transport, causing serious traffic problems. The situation is serious and has caused considerable inconvenience in the city.
The Milan firefighters spoke of a "very serious situation throughout the metropolitan city of Milan” non-stop interventions for a few days now that with tonight's storm have become tragic”. Over 200 requests for interventions arrived today. The estimate of the damages has yet to be quantified.
Delays to trams and trains
Last night's storm “caused serious damage also to our electricity network” he let it be known Atm, the Milan transport company, explaining that "several points of the city and some depots are without electricity, while fallen trees and debris on the roads block the normal routes of the lines". “The tram, trolleybus and bus service has severe delays”, adds Atm while “The tram service is currently very limited”. "All the subways are open and in normal service" and there is only one stop along Line 1 at Inganni for a flooded road.
Reported inconvenience along the Milan-Venice railway line, with possible delays of up to an hour. Trains from Milan's central station leave with some regularity, although travelers have been warned of possible delays of up to an hour along the line from Turin to Milan, due to the damage caused by bad weather between Trecate, in the Novara area, and Magenta, in the province of Milan.
Il bad weather also affected other areas, such as the province of Pavia and the Como area causing numerous inconveniences especially in the area between Vigevano and Mortara. The firefighters intervened in Vigevano to remove numerous trees felled by strong gusts of wind. More thunderstorms and lightning hit the provinces of Varese and Lecco hard.
Sala: "wind at 100 km/h, the situation is not simple"
The mayor of Milan beppe room made an initial assessment of the inconvenience through a communicated on social media: “We had a sleepless night. The wind in the city exceeded 100 kilometers per hour. From 4 am with the technicians of the Municipality I have been personally at work to coordinate the activities in order to limit the damage deriving from the storm that hit our city last night. The situation is not simple, but I guarantee you that the staff has been working since tonight. The situation for trams and trolleybuses is problematic for three main reasons: we have two depots without electricity and the vehicles cannot leave; in some cases there are trees on the tracks and finally we also have situations on the 90-91 of overhead lines to be restored. We have schools with uncovered roofs and the Castle is currently closed for safety reasons, because there are fallen tiles".
Sala then turned to his fellow citizens launching a warning on climate change: “I have seen 65 summers go by in my life, what I am seeing now is not normal. We can no longer deny it, the climate change is changing our lives: we can't just pretend nothing happened and we can't do nothing. Also Milan must do its part".
For safety reasons, the Municipality has ordered the closure of all the city parks and the prohibition of access to those that are not fenced and to open tree-lined areas. The Idroscalo park is also closed.
Flooding also in Veneto. Zaia: "stop trains in the region"
even the Veneto was hard hit from bad weather in particular the areas affecting in particular the Treviso and Veronese areas. The provisional balance is of a boy in code red after being hit by a branch in Zimella, 7 patients in code yellow, 27 in code real rescue from Suem.
“Il Veneto has been hit hard, for the umpteenth time in a few days. This night, on several occasions, a series of storms unleashed our Region" - explains the President of the Veneto Region in a note, Luca Zaia – “It is certainly not a question of ordinary manifestations of bad weather. The hail destroyed roofs, cars, industrial plants and craftsmen. In the countryside it has eliminated crops, vineyards, orchards and greenhouses. The railway lines are now interrupted along the section between Brescia and Padua: the amount of people to be transported is very high, according to the railways it will not be possible to compensate with bus services for all passengers. The Veneto this night and in the early hours of the morning it was 'bombed'. It should not be said that these are summer phenomena, to be taken into account: I have numerous testimonies of pieces of ice the size of apples, weighing over 150g, with extreme destructive power. We are facing, for violence and frequency of bad weather, something out of the ordinary. This was still a night of passion for our land.”
“I have to thank again the Civil Protection, the Fire Brigade and all those involved in the emergency. Damage censuses have been underway since the first light of dawn: we need to understand exactly the perimeters of the affected areas, which I expect to be extensive. The findings will be added to the reports already sent to the Government in recent days. The Regional Emergency Status will be updated in the next few hours in the light of the new perturbations. They serve cheap refreshments for the affected territories of the Veneto: this is what we will ask of the State ”, concludes Zaia.
