Moment giant water spout bears down on tourist boat in Italy as country is lashed with deadly flash floods and storms
A giant waterspout swept close to a tourist boat off the coast of northern Italy on Thursday morning, part of a wider spell of severe weather that has left at least two people dead and caused widespread flooding and destruction across the country. Footage captured the towering vortex churning across the sea near Rapallo, narrowly missing the vessel as passengers reacted with alarm, before the waterspout dissipated without causing damage. The incident came amid a broader pattern of intense storms battering Italy, underlining the scale of disruption from the extreme weather event.
Severe thunderstorms hit northern and central Italy, with more than 63,000 lightning strikes recorded in Tuscany within 12 hours and over 200 emergency rescue operations carried out. An 83-year-old woman drowned in Latisana after becoming trapped in her car during flash floods, while a second elderly woman died in Sinalunga after glass from a window shattered by a tornado severed a major vein in her leg. Further chaos included the Lambro River bursting its banks in Milan, around 45 people evacuated near Sondrio after a landslide, flooding at a hospital in Brescia, and rescues of trapped residents in Venice, with the Veneto and Friuli regions placed under a yellow weather alert after up to 200mm of rain fell overnight.
In short
- Waterspout narrowly missed a tourist boat near Rapallo, Italy
- Storms killed two elderly women in separate incidents
- Flash floods, landslides and tornadoes caused widespread damage nationwide
Explained simply
Northern Italy has been hit by a series of violent storms, bringing torrential rain, lightning and at least one tornado to several regions in quick succession. The severe weather has caused significant flooding, with rivers bursting their banks and rescue teams responding to hundreds of incidents, and has been linked to at least two deaths.
The waterspout filmed near the coastal town of Rapallo is a striking example of the extreme conditions, though it caused no harm itself. Waterspouts are rotating columns of air that form over water, similar to tornadoes on land, and while dramatic to watch, they usually weaken quickly and rarely cause serious damage unless they move ashore.
The wider concern is the scale and intensity of the storms battering the country, with areas including Milan, Venice, Tuscany and the Veneto region all affected by flooding, landslides or storm damage within a short space of time. Authorities have issued weather alerts and carried out numerous rescues, reflecting how unusually severe and widespread this spell of weather has been.