School destroyed, several injured as severe weather hits Italy

A waterspout destroyed a school in western Sicily on Friday as severe weather hit parts of Italy, causing injuries, flooding and widespread damage, ANSA reported.

Two waterspouts formed at sea and moved inland around Marsala and the Trapani area, damaging buildings, vehicles and crops.

One struck the Terrenove campus of the Alcide De Gasperi school in Marsala, where 273 children were present.

Principal Leonardo Gullotta said staff moved children to a safer area indoors because going outside was impossible.

“A waterspout struck the Terrenove branch directly and completely destroyed it,” he said.

“Thankfully, there were no injuries to staff or, above all, to the children—just a few scrapes.”

Several people were injured in the affected area. In nearby Petrosino, two people were hospitalized after a car was thrown into a ravine.

Orange weather alerts were in effect for Lazio and Campania due to the risk of torrential rain.

Flooding hit neighborhoods in Naples, while a supermarket wall collapsed in nearby Pozzuoli and power outages affected parts of Marano.

On Ischia, heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides, prompting 13 firefighting operations. A telecommunications outage Thursday evening disrupted internet and telephone services across the island for more than two hours, preventing emergency calls.

Further north, a storm dumped nearly 100 millimeters of rain within hours on Castelleone in Cremona province, flooding streets and basements and toppling trees onto parked cars.

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