Storrm

Storms hit Tuscany yesterday evening. Violent downbursts accompanied by ferocious winds and hail big enough to smash car windscreens. We drove back from the coast wondering what we might find. Two 25m poplar trees are down in the big field, a willow along the track and the table under the pergola at the back of the house flew 30 metres with a chair for company (extra). Power has only just been restored.

One of the polars crashed onto the collecting pond and fence for my irrigation system. The pump seems to have been saved. You can see it in debris in second extra.

Nearby Bibbiena was badly hit. Miraculously no one was injured or killed. I’ll have some clearing up to do.

It’s a sign of things to come. The torrid summer has super-heated the Mediterranean and when cooler air arrives from the Atlantic the temperature differentials between air masses generate super storms.