Five waterspouts come ashore in Genoa, Italy - Cause millions of euros' worth of damage and shut down transport network

thelocal.it
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 05:32 UTC

© Screenshot: YouReporterNEWS

The tornadoes hit around the port city of Genoa.

A series of five tornadoes swept through northern Italy on Tuesday, prompting flights to be diverted and causing millions of euros worth of damage.

The tornadoes hit around the port city of Genoa, with some eyewitnesses stating they came close to hitting the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

Flights to the city's airport were diverted and those leaving delayed, while trains were also interrupted and roads closed, La Repubblica reported.

Damage is said to amount to millions of euros, with roofs ripped off buildings in the Prà neighbourhood and the seafront strewn with sun loungers hit by the stormy weather.

In Genoa's Pegli neighbourhood 100mm of rain fell in just an hour, while footage shot by witnesses shows raging streams.

Locals can be heard responding to the "day of fear", as described by YouReporter, as they watch the tornadoes from afar. "It's incredible" one person can be heard saying, while others remark on the huge size of one of the tornadoes and another on its impressive nature.

Comment: To give you an idea how rare tornadoes are in Italy, four tornadoes in total were recorded in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, three were recorded in the 20th century, four were recorded between 2008, and 2012, four hit in 2013 alone, between 12 and 15 have hit so far this year... and now five have hit in one day!

Note the exponential rate of increase...