Flooding, uprooted trees, flying dehors and damaged cars, as well as 15 injured, are the results of a tornado that hit Florence on the evening of August 1, 2015. Trains were suspended in the area due to a downed pole, and water service was interrupted in half the city for a few hours.
Quartiere 2, comprising Campo di Marte, Coverciano and Firenze Sud / viale Europa were the worst hit, with a concentration of the tornado at the roundabout of via del Gignoro.
Temporary structures did not hold up to the high winds, and their uprooting caused damage in multiple locations. The outside seating area of a bar (dehors) in via Datini was blown upward and stopped in its path by a wall and cars. In a side street of via della Rondinella, an attic structure was blown down to street level, ruining the facade of a building and its balconies and crushing 5 cars before entering into a neighbouring hairdresser’s.
The historical centre was not as damaged as the outskirts, though some water has been reported entering the Bargello and Uffizi. The Boboli Gardens will be closed until further notice while safety checks are being performed.
The Anconella water basin, managed by Publiacqua, was affected by the 60,000 lightening strikes and numerous trees down, causing a tension jump in their system and bringing down the pumps, which stopped water to half the city. Those with water had brown water coming out of the taps. Prato was also affected. Electricity held up better, with only a major outage in Bagno a Ripoli.
Traffic and transportation was rendered impossible for most of the night hours. The city’s underpasses at Gignoro and Calenzano were flooded – at the latter, two people were saved from a car stuck underneath. The Vigili del Fuoco are at work pumping out water from the underpasses this morning (Aug 2). The train lines were interrupted between Campo di Marte and Rovezzano, forcing trains to return to the closest station and long trips to be interrupted.
15 injured are reported, with one in critical condition: a young man fishing at Anconella on whom a tree fell.
@TheFlorentine terrible scenes on Lungarno Colombo after tornado strikes Florence pic.twitter.com/sEmfC4mJIW
— PaulSmith (@djslippers) August 2, 2015
Source: Corriere Fiorentino article by @marziofatucchi , Twitter and direct reports. Photos of the aftermath in quartiere 2 by Alexandra Korey. All rights reserved.
