The storm complex was moving extremely fast, increasing the risk of wind. The gust line hit Corsica’s capital, Ajaccio, on the southwest coast at 08:15 local time on Thursday, then reached Cap Corse on the northeastern tip around 9:15 am. Meteorite. That’s a forward speed of roughly 70 mph.
Preliminary reports of wind storms in Corsica include: 140 mph (225 km/h) in Marignana, 128 mph (206 km/h) in L’Île-Rousse, 122 mph (197 km/h) in Calvi, and 116 mph (188 km/h) in Bocognano, among others.
The dramatic video from Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport in Corsica shows the extreme devastation that can be caused by 136 mph wind gusts equivalent to the strength of a Category 4 hurricane. winds damaged The Airbus A319, a commercial jet capable of taking 156 passengers, with one of its wingtips bent by the storm, Airlive reported.
At least five people died on and around the French island during the storm, according to the AP: a 13-year-old girl and a 46-year-old boy were killed at two campsites; A 72-year-old woman died after her car’s roof collapsed; and two died at sea – a canoeist and a 62-year-old fisherman whose bodies were washed ashore after a storm.
Several more were injured and at least a dozen people were hospitalized in Corsica, according to the report. High winds also left 45,000 people without electricity.
Further in the system, it was reported that two people died as a result of the removal of trees from the ground in the Italian province of Tuscany, and several people were injured as a result of the falling of trees in a camping area. In Venice, noisy winds, popular St. Mark’s Square and brick pieces directly to St. Mark’s bell tower is the tallest structure in the city.
In Piombino, Italy, a dramatic video of the storm shows a Ferris wheel spinning rapidly through the storm, while the wheel carriages spiral out of control as howling winds take over the operations of the wheel. According to the AP, the walnut-sized hailstones have caused significant damage in Italy’s Liguria region, smashing windows and damaging already drought-scorched farmland.
Even after the storm ripped through parts of northern Italy, it continued to bring intense lightning and strong winds. A video from Kranj, Slovenia, shows intense winds tearing off the roof of what appears to be a large apartment complex and damaging cars parked below.
in Austria, another amazing video shows high-voltage power poles bent in half. According to this reporting At least 65,000 people in Styria, a province in the heart of Austria, lost power during the storm, which brought gusts of at least 139 km/h (86 mph), from Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Elsewhere in Austria, at least two children have died in the Carinthia region when high winds knocked down trees near a dense lake.
The storm’s peak winds were on par with some of the highest winds ever recorded outside of the mountains in Europe. Such strong gusts of wind are common rare in summer in the region. majority common wind damage events occurs from fall to spring, often coming from strong mid-latitude storm systems that dance along the jet stream.
Some feel that the storm may meet the requirements for a derecho, a widespread and long-lived storm that is at least 60 miles wide and does 400 miles of damage. Even then, a storm complex must have wind gusts of at least 58 mph for most of its length, with a few gusts of at least 75 mph, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.
About one large derecho occurs annually in Europe, or several on a small scale. Per Research by the European Severe Storm Laboratory Most of these convective wind storms have a much smaller and less intense footprint than the strip that occurred on Thursday, according to (ESSL) scientists. Position and directional movement is also somewhat rare.
It resembles a derecho that hit Germany, including Berlin, in July 2002. This storm complex was responsible for eight deaths and 50 injuries.
Authors a study on this derecho found that “vigorous convection can reach a size and intensity comparable to that in the United States.”
