Italy’s Lake Como region devastated by avalanche and flood

Towns around Lake Como in northern Italy were hit on Tuesday by avalanches and floods, in another sample of extreme weather events which, according to an Italian agricultural industry group, were intensified in recent years.

Italian firefighters carried out more than 60 rescues after the storms will wreak havoc on the picturesque lake surrounded by mountains.

Among the rescues carried out, firefighters rescued an elderly woman trapped at her home, as well as a disabled person and a caregiver who were isolated by the avalanche. For the moment, no fatalities or injuries were reported.

In Brienno, on the western shore of the lake and the most affected town, 50 residents found themselves stranded in their homes when a landslide caused a gas leak.

To the south, in Cernobbio, firefighters have evacuated a condominium threatened by flooding.

“In Italy, we are facing the consequences of climate change, with a tendency to tropicalization and the multiplication of extreme events, ” said Coldiretti, an association representing the Italian agricultural industry.

Coldiretti emphasized more frequent, sudden and severe storms, as well as short, heavy rains and rapid changes from sunny sky to stormy weather.

Coldiretti estimates that the damage to agricultural production, buildings and infrastructure over the past decade amounts to 14 billion euros ($ 16.5 billion) by events caused by climate changelike floods and landslides.

The storms that hit Lake Como came a day after hail the size of tennis balls it damaged nearly 100 cars and stopped traffic on a highway near Bologna in northern Italy.

A video showed cars with the windshield shattered by hail detained by the side of the road, while drivers and passengers checked for damage.

Although hailstorms are common during the summer in the Padana plain in Italy, meteorologist Luca Lombroso told the Bologna newspaper il Resto di Carlino that the strength and frequency of this year’s hailstorms have rendering the phenomenon is something “unusual”‘.

Source: AP