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WORLD
Reuters
News agency
Sunday, November 4, 2018, 5:28 PM – Heavy rain and gales devastating parts of Italy.
A German tourist died on Friday when hit by lightning on the island of Sardinia when died in hospital, Italy's Civil Protection Agency said on Saturday.
A spokeswoman said 17 deaths related to the severe weather had been reported to the Agency so far.
Many of the victims were killed by falling trees. Coldiretti, the association of Italian agricultural companies, said in a statement that gales had destroyed around 14 million trees, many in the far north.
Areas from the far northeast to Sicily in the southwest, with the worst damage in the northern regions of Trentino and Veneto – the region around Venice – where villages and roads have been cut off by landslides.
In the Alps near Belluno, 100 km (60 miles) north of Venice, pine trees and red spruces were snapped up like matchsticks.
Fallen trees are seen in the mountain near Belluno, Italy, November 3, 2018. Vigili del Fuoco / Handout via REUTERS
The surface of the Comelico Superiore dam, farther north near the Austrian border, was covered with the trunks of trees that had fallen into the Piave river.
"We will need to at least a century to return to normality," Coldiretti said.
Many of the squares and walkways of Venice have been submerged in the highest floods of the city.
The governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, said the region's budget is at least a billion euros ($ 1.1 billion).
Fallen trees are seen in the water of Piave river near Belluno, Italy, November 3, 2018. Vigili del Fuoco / Handout via REUTERS
Angelo Borrelli, head of the Civil Protection agency, said Veneto had seen winds of up to 180 kph (112 mph), and that the situation there was "apocalyptic".
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini was visited on Sunday.
WATCH BELOW: NB MAN CAPTURES EXPLOSION MID-STORM JUST OUTSIDE HIS WINDOW, WATCH
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