Storm with high winds leaves 10 dead, 28 injured, after trees fall on campsite in Russia, 50 buildings damaged

The Guardian
Sun, 30 Jul 2023 10:38 UTC

Emergency services clear debris after storm hits site in Mari El, along northern bank of Volga River

Eight people died and another 10 were hospitalised in Russia when trees fell at a campsite during a severe storm described as a hurricane.

"According to the latest information, eight people died in Mari El due to the hurricane that took place the day before," said Yevgeny Maslov, the mayor of the city of Yoshkar-Ola.

Comment: This sounds more like a downburst:

In meteorology, a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially, that is, in straight lines in all directions from the area of impact at surface level. Capable of producing damaging winds, it may sometimes be confused with a tornado, where high-velocity winds circle a central area, and air moves inward and upward.

Mari El is a region along the northern bank of the Volga River, and Yoshkar-Ola is its largest city.

The emergencies ministry said nearly 100 rescuers were clearing debris at a campsite near Lake Yalchik, and 27 people had been injured.

Several hundred people had been camping on the shores of Lake Yalchik when the storm struck, the ministry said.

"Vacationers did not take into account the weather forecast," it said on Telegram.

Comment: Reuters provides further details:

Ten people were killed in central Russia after strong winds toppled trees and heavy rains disrupted the electricity supply in hundreds of settlements, Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said on Sunday.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal case into the incident that killed three children.

Pictures posted by the ministry on the Telegram app showed cars and tents badly damaged and crushed by fallen trees.

Storms disrupted the power supply in 520 settlements, damaged the roofs of 41 residential buildings and seven buildings that provide social services in eight different Russian regions, officials said.

The BBC adds:

The storm affected eight regions, leaving nearly 100,000 people without power and damaging nearly 50 buildings.

They say that vacationers hadn't taken into account the weather forecast, but there were hundreds of people were camping there, could it be perhaps that they weren't expecting the storm to be as ferocious as it was? After all, it damaged buildings, and it is the summertime.

Could it instead be that, rather than this being merely the vacationers fault, that this storm was unusually intense? Which would also fit with a pattern seen across the northern hemisphere so far this summer season which has seen a spike in downbursts and deadly hail:

• Giant Italy hail sets European record twice in five days
• Violent storms in South Tyrol, Italy: flooded roads, landslides, bridges swept away by the water
• Multiple whirlwinds reported in Poland