Two people were killed by falling trees in Lucca and Carrara in Tuscany on Thursday, as bad weather wreaked havoc across northern Italy, causing extensive damage and several other injuries.
The victims were a man on via Sorbano del Giudice near Lucca, and a woman at the La Malfa Park in Carrara.
Another four people were hurt by falling trees at a campsite in Marina di Massa with three being hospitalised in code yellow and the fourth being cut out of a roulette, now in code red.
In Camaiore near Lucca, another person was taken to hospital in code yellow after being hit by a falling tree. In Barga, close by, a gale ripped off part of a roof which then fell onto a car with people inside, causing unknown injuries.
In Massa Carrara a tornado also injured a maintenance worker at a bus depot. In Florence, a man was hit by a flying branch in a market, while in nearby Bottai a tree hit a camper van.
Damage was reported at the market in Marina di Carrara while a violent thunderstorm caused flooding in the coastal Versilia region with its lush resorts, where sun umbrellas and deck chairs were completely blown away.
In Liguria, a violent sea surge hit the coast between Chiavari and Sestri Levante, on the Genoa-La Spezia train line, driving material and even some beach huts onto the tracks, damaging the electrical power line.
The mayor of Sestri Levante near Genoa said he would request a state of calamity over the storm damage and flooding.
Five families were evacuated in the nearby Tigullio area after a tornado hit and damaged their homes. In and around La Spezia, roofs were blown off and tree branches swept down. Over to the northeast in Ferrara, a crane was blown down, hitting a set of villa homes.
Heavy rain forced the closure of city parks in Milan. Further south in Modena, 11 families were evacuated after the roof of an apartment block was blown off.
Forecasters said the storms would continue in the north for another 36 hours, after which fine weather would hopefully return.
Italy’s conditions are currently split, with storm fronts roiling across the north and centre, and temperatures of up to 45 degrees centigrade in the south, the sixth of Italy's summer heat waves thus far.
