Corsica storm death toll rises to six

At least two dead in Italy’s Tuscany due to heavy rainfall

At least six people have been killed, including a minor, by a heavy storm that has hit the coast of Corsica, in France, with hail, rain and winds of 224 kilometers per hour that also extends to other Mediterranean regions, such as Italian Tuscany, where two people have died, or Sardinia.

A thirteen-year-old girl has been found dead after a tree fell in the south of Corsica (France), while a 72-year-old woman has died after her car was hit by debris coming from a shed, according to BFMTV.

The third victim is a 46-year-old French citizen who died after a tree fell on top of the bungalow where he was staying. At the same campsite, a 23-year-old Italian woman was injured by the storm and was taken to hospital in critical condition.

The fourth and fifth victims, who have been added later to the official balance, are a 62-year-old fisherman in Girolata and a kayaker in Erbalunga, according to the spokesman of the maritime prefect of the area, Pierre-Louis Josselin.

The French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, visiting the island, has already confirmed in the afternoon a sixth fatality, but has assumed that it is a “provisional” balance. There is no exact number of people missing, while at least 20 have been injured.

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has urgently summoned some of his ministers to examine the situation and has called the Corsican authorities to give him their support. The Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, has indicated that the authorities are “closely monitoring the operations taking place on land and at sea”.

The storm has also hit Italian Tuscany, where at least two people have been killed hit by trees and at least 20 have been injured, some seriously, the president of the regional council of Tuscany, Antonio Mazzeo, has reported on his official Facebook profile.

The bad weather last night affected the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, in the province of Modena. Thus, in the municipality of San Felice sul Panaro, “enormous damage” has been recorded, as reported by the authorities, and at least eleven families have been evacuated after strong gusts of wind blew off the roof of a building.