The Sicilian city of Marsala and neighbouring towns were hit by a tornado on Friday, overturning vehicles, damaging buildings and seriously injuring two people in what experts described as an almost unprecedented event for the Mediterranean island.
The whirlwind caused panic among residents, destroying a house and damaging a school and other buildings in Marsala and the nearby towns of Petrosino and Mazara del Vallo.
The head of Sicily’s Civil Protection agency, Salvatore Cocina, described the tornado as unusually violent.
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“It was almost like an American tornado, nothing this violent has been seen in living memory.” Cocina said.
The agency had warned in early September that heat accumulated during the summer could trigger extreme weather events in autumn.
Cocina linked the incident to the growing frequency of severe weather events associated with climate change.
“It once again highlights the issue of extreme weather events, a characteristic of recent years due to the climate crisis,” he said.
Videos shown on local media showed a school in Marsala with shattered windows and a partially collapsed ceiling. Elsewhere in the town, cars and trucks lay on their sides, while power poles damaged by the winds were scattered across the ground.
Sicily’s regional president, Renato Schifani, promised to allocate special funds to address the emergency.
An alert for possible extreme weather events remained in place for Saturday as rain and storms continued to affect the island.
Reuters
