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"It looked like a micro-tornado": in Corsica, the inhabitants surprised by the violence of the storm

2022-08-18T11:30:15.166Z


Corsica was hit on Thursday by a violent storm lasting less than an hour, which killed three people. “Suddenly there was a big bang


At 54, and as many years spent in Corsica, Dominique had never seen this.

This resident of Santa-Maria-di-Lota (Haute-Corse) is used to having wind at home.

"We had bought a heavy glass table, on purpose so that it wouldn't fly away," she explains.

But it will have been enough "a single gust of wind" this Thursday, "around 8:15 a.m.", for it to break into hundreds of pieces.

Corsica was hit in the space of less than an hour by a violent storm – with gusts of wind exceeding 200 km/h – bringing down many trees.

A 13-year-old girl and a 72-year-old woman died in Corse-du-Sud when, in Haute-Corse, a 46-year-old Frenchman died at a campsite in Calvi.

A 23-year-old Italian woman, also on vacation at a campsite in this city, is in absolute emergency.

Read alsoWhy are the storms that hit France so violent?

“The weather was threatening: the sky was grey, there were a few thunderclaps, no rain…” recalls Dominique, who was at home at the time.

“Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind and everything blew up.

It's as if there had been a micro-tornado,” she says.

In addition to its glass table "which shattered", "the seats landed in the swimming pool".

During the 45 minutes that the phenomenon lasted, Dominique and her husband “barricaded themselves” in the house, fear in their guts.

“There was a lot of damage”

On the other side of the Isle of Beauty, in Pigna (Haute-Corse), we still can't believe it.

“It was quite impressive,” confesses Petro, of the U Palazzu restaurant.

From his terrace, of which he posted images on Instagram, there is almost nothing left standing: the seats and tables are on the ground, sometimes propelled several meters, trees have broken and stones have landed on the floor.

“It looked like a micro-tornado,” he explains.

“It lasted five minutes, tops.

In an instant, there was a lot of wind and rain, says Petro.

There was a lot of damage, uprooted trees, pergolas that flew…”

Campo Dell'oro Airport@VilledAjaccio pic.twitter.com/za3JMjmBDf

— Stefanu Pinelli 🪕🎶 (@StefanuPinelli) August 18, 2022

But as in Corsica, the weather is never very bad for long, "the good weather came back just after with the sun", says Dominique.

But not without leaving stigmas that are still difficult to assess as there are so many of them.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2022-08-18

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