Woman dies in violent storm that plunges northern Italy into chaos

Rome.- A violent storm with thunderstorms, winds, torrential rains, hail and electrical discharges has hit northern Italy in the last few hours, where it has caused one death, numerous material damages and the partial collapse of rail traffic in several regions, while another 12 remain on alert this Monday, local authorities and Civil Protection report. The victim is a 63-year-old woman who died in a municipality in the province of Milan, after being hit by a tree that fell while she was walking through a wooded area with two people who were injured and hospitalized with a guarded prognosis.

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The strong storm, which arrived after more than ten days of extreme heat throughout Italy, has particularly affected Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Liguria and Tuscany (north), while this Monday the alert continues in 12 regions, several of them also from the center and south of the country. In Milan, an intense storm with cyclonic winds brought nightfall early and caused the closure of public parks, floods, fallen trees, and the activation of emergency systems due to the risk of the Seveso River overflowing, local media report. The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, asked citizens for caution and warned of the activation of the containment system and the placement of mobile barriers in vulnerable areas such as the Ponte Lambro neighborhood. High-speed rail traffic was also severely affected: an Italo company train was struck by lightning near Melegnano (Milan), forcing it to stop and evacuate passengers, while the others were diverted to conventional lines, generating delays of up to an hour. In the province of Novara (Piedmont), the wind tore off the roof of a residential building in the San Martino district, while in Orta a centuries-old tree fell in the park of Villa Crespi, home to the restaurant of the renowned chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo, without causing injuries. The Tuscany region was also hit hard, with more than 27,000 lightning strikes recorded in just 12 hours. In Florence, emergency services responded to multiple incidents due to fallen trees and property damage, while in San Gimignano 60 millimeters of rain were recorded in one hour. Civil Protection has issued an orange alert for Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, and a yellow alert for nine other regions, including Lazio and Campania, whose capitals are Rome and Naples, respectively. While the north suffers from heavy rains, the south of the country continues under an intense heat wave, with temperatures above 35 degrees. In the capital of Sicily, Palermo, the City Council has banned the circulation of animal-drawn vehicles until further notice, while throughout the island, as well as in Sardinia, firefighters have intervened in dozens of forest fires.