Storms destroy 14 million trees, kill 20 in Italy

International Desk: Heavy rain and gales devastating parts of Italy have claimed two more lives, taking the overall death toll to at least 20, and laid waste to vast swathes of forest.

A German tourist died on Friday when hit by lightning on the island of Sardinia while another person struck by lightning several days ago died in hospital, Italy's Civil Protection Agency said on Saturday.

A spokeswoman said 20 deaths related to the severe weather had been reported to the Agency so far.

Many of the victims to date have been 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 have been affected by the storms, 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 north of Venice, pine trees and red spruces were snapped wholesale like matchsticks.

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.

Agencies


risingbd/Dhaka/Nov 4, 2018/Nasim