Deaths are reported after storms hit France, Austria and Italy

Powerful storms have battered areas of central and southern Europe, killing at least 13 people including three children.

The deaths, most from falling trees, were reported in Italy and Austria, and on the French island of Corsica.

Heavy rain and winds wrecked campsites on the island, while in Venice, Italy, masonry was blown off the belltower of St Mark’s Basilica.

https://twitter.com/Brave_spirit81/status/1560322258912137217

The storms follow weeks of heatwave and drought across much of the continent.

In Corsica, winds gusting up to 224 km/h (140mph) uprooted trees and damaged mobile homes.

Authorities there said a 13-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree on a campsite.

Weißkirchen/ Steiermark. Abgebrochene Hochspannungsmasten. 🙈 #Unwetter pic.twitter.com/vy0zG1fpc7

— Christain (@mrvertigo) August 18, 2022

A man died in a similar incident and an elderly woman was killed when her car was hit by the detached roof of a beach hut.

Two other people, a fisherman and a female kayaker, died out at sea.

Later French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has arrived in Corsica to inspect storm damage, reported a sixth death.

Dozens more people were injured on both land and sea.

On the French mainland, some southern areas were hit by power cuts and streets were flooded in the country’s second city, Marseille.

In Austria two girls were killed by a falling tree near a lake in Carinthia.

It appears the extreme winds were enough to violently turn a ferris wheel in Piombino in Italy 🇮🇹

Some claiming this is a tornado, I personally do not think so. Radar would suggest straight line winds from a fast moving mesoscale convective system (MCS).https://t.co/T2sOySeSyP

— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) August 18, 2022

Later, three more deaths were reported by media in Lower Austria province, also as a result of a falling tree.

Meanwhile in Italy, a man and a woman were killed by falling trees in separate incidents in the region of Tuscany.

High winds swept through Venice, blowing café umbrellas across St Mark’s Square and dislodging brickwork from the cathedral belltower.

Seaside resorts in Tuscany and further north in Liguria were damaged by the storms.

But in southern Italy, the heatwave continued, with temperatures of up to 40C recorded in Sicily.

Read more via BBC/ Euronews