One dead and residents evacuated as wildfires engulf Sicily
Italian firefighters on Thursday were battling numerous forest and bush fires in Sicily, where temperatures exceeding 40°C in some areas and gusts of hot wind were fanning the flames, AFP reported.
A 59-year-old firefighter died of a suspected heart attack during efforts to put out a blaze in San Cataldo in central Sicily, according to national broadcaster Rai, while a colleague was taken the Sant'Elia Hospital in Caltanissetta.
Around 100 residents and 22 patients from a clinic in the inland town of Santo Stefano Quisquina, where a fire has been raging for several days despite the use of water-bombing aircraft, had to be evacuated, the fire service said in a statement.
Firefighters had responded to more than 1,000 fires across Sicily since Saturday, it added.
Dozens injured in Italy hailstorms
Dozens of people were injured and extensive damage reported to homes, cars, and farmland following hailstorms that swept across parts of central-northern Italy on Tuesday.
At least 60 people in the town of San Benedetto del Tronto on Italy’s Adriatic coast were taken to the emergency room for injuries they sustained when a severe hailstorm hit the town’s seaside promenade, La Repubblica newspaper reported.
In the area around Ferrara, trees and street lamps were reportedly knocked down, roofs blown off buildings, cars damaged and crops destroyed by hail measuring 3cm in diameter.
The frequency of severe hailstorms is increasing faster in northern Italy than anywhere else in the world, according to a study in scientific journal Nature Geoscience.
Rome offers free entry to 11 cinemas in ‘Big Chill’ scheme
Air-conditioned cinemas in Rome will offer free entry to help residents of the Italian capital struggling with intense summer heatwave, city officials said on Wednesday.
From July 23rd to August 4th, the council’s Il grande freddo or ‘The Big Chill’ initiative will turn 11 cinemas and 11 libraries into temperature-controlled “climate refuges”, according to Adnkronos newswire.
Organisers will screen 10 Italian films, with each film shown twice a day and entry granted on a first-come, first-served basis, AFP reported.
Mayor Roberto Gualtieri earlier this month announced Rome's Piano Caldo climate adaptation strategy, which includes designating hundreds of "climate shelters" searchable via an online map that is still in development.
Comments