If you read my other blog, Bagni di Lucca and Beyond, you will know that we had a tornado in Bagni di Lucca on Wednesday night. Many residents would have spent a terrifying night listening to the fierce wind tearing up trees and tiles from their roofs.
La Villa was very badly hit and the beautiful little park has been devasted. Trees that are hundreds of years old have been uprooted and snapped off.
The clean up was quick and efficient in La Villa. The broken tiles have all been cleaned up from the streets and the fallen trees are being cut into smaller pieces for removal.
I went for a walk through La Villa and was pleased to see that things were back in order. There is some roof damage in several buildings, including Circolo dei Forestieri, the pharmacy and Villa Ada.
Lots of trees are down in the garden on Villa Ada, but the roof damage doesn’t look as bad from the back of the building.
The trees have been removed from the church in Corsena.
A crane is at work in the nearby cemetery to help with the clean up.
Many roads to the outlying villages are cut by fallen trees. There is going to be lots of work for woodcutters for quite some time cleaning up the mess.
It was a beautiful day here today, the sun was shining and it almost felt like a spring day. It is hard to believe that this strange weather event happened at all.
It has come to my attention that the villages of Gombereto, Veteglia, San Gemignano, San Cassiano and Pieve di Controne have been badly damaged. Francis has been to the area and has some photos and news of the damage.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 
Seems that it was fearful. So sad to see the trees like that. I hope not happens again. Thank you, have a nice weekend, love, nia
It must have been especially frightening for those who had trees come down near them. Those huge trees would have fallen with a horrible crash.
I’m glad they are getting everything cleaned up so quickly. I will be there in June and can’t wait to see your beautiful city.
People have done a great job getting things cleared. The roads and forests will take a while, but things are moving.
Sorry to see all the damage, but I hope everyone made it through safely.
It seems there was one death and a couple of injuries, but it could have been much worse.
that is the craziest thing i have ever heard. i had no idea that Bagni di Lucca could have a tornado. im really sorry to hear that. looks like you have alot of devoted people cleaning up. it must be nice to have such a close knit community. was it just aroudn bagni di Lucca or did it go out futher. tx. George M.
If you read Mulino’s comments you will get a better idea of what we experienced. It was extremely frightening while it was happening.
I think that the right name for this phenomenon would be “explosive cyclogenesis” a kind of quick forming cyclone, also called “a weather bomb” as we do not have tornados in Europe… Well, at least not until now, but with so many climatic changes anything may happen. Here is a good description of this phenomenon, which is becoming increasingly common http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive_cyclogenesis
Bagni di Lucca has had quite a bit of damage, but the cyclogenesis has affected Tuscany and parts of Liguria. I also heard that beautiful Forte dei Marmi has been devastated and that they have lost over 1000 huge trees.
Fortunately, in our case, our neighbours have just informed me that the mill has not suffered a scratch and, in their case, they are all well and they only lost a couple of tiles and had a window shield broken, but others have not been this lucky. Our old church of San Pietro in Corsena had three of its ancient cypresses falling onto the roof and I do hope that there is not lots of damage in that gorgeous Romanic church.
wow, snow, flooding and now tornadoes……. glad you are ok
Crazy weather!
Thanks for the clarification, Dominillo Mulino. I was a bit confused by the tornado term. Bufera di vento is what I kept reading. Saw that it has affected other parts of Toscana and also Versilia. The rescue of the skiers in the Dolomites was amazing. I trust the mountain roads will get cleared as quickly as possible. Can’t imagine being cut off that way. Sending good thoughts to everyone!
Things are getting back to normal quite quickly, which is great.
Hope everyone is safe…..the weather has been nuts!
The damage is widespread, but quite random. Things are returning to normal.
I should clarify that the word “tornado” has been used by the Italian media; however, a tornado is a twister and this was just a huge storm, closer to a cyclone than to a twister. On the other hand, there has been “waterspouts” at various times close to the coast. In this case, the prevailing wind was “tramontana”, not a coastal storm. Meteo3 is also describing the phenomenon as “ciclogenesi explosive”. In any case, unfortunately, the damage caused is the same….
There was no rain, lightning or thunder with the horrible wind. It was a very weird experience. The damage is extensive and we don’t want it to ever happen again.
Apparently the new town of Barga was pretty badly hit as well
I hope they are OK over there.
Got electrCity back after three daYs!
Good glad to hear this!
Mind you it’s on a genrator which makes a racket. I think I’d prefer to get back to peace and quiet and candles.
Glad to see the clean-up is going well….
I hope everyone has their power back soon.
Indeed..
Best wishes to everyone involved in the clean up. If we were there we’d be out helping.
People have done a great job with the clean up.
How is your mountain home? And the village there? Can you reach it? Thanks for reporting, you know how the media blow up things.
Vergemoli is fine. I’m glad now that we cut the pine trees down. It is the pines that have fallen mostly.
I was there on Thursday to complete on a house purchase in Pieve di Controne and could not believe the devastation. Every roof in San Gemignano was wrecked. Miraculously the roof on my house was left unscathed but to see all the trees down on the drive up was heartbreaking.
San Gemignano has been badly hit. It is on a ridge so I guess it was right in the path of the wind.
Lucky you to have a house in Pieve di Controne. It is a beautiful village.
The tornado ( or cyclone) or whatever you want to call it , it happened in the night between Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 , the worst time, when the wind caused the worst damage was around 5 : 30 – 6 : 00 of Thursdays 5.
Unfortunately, these photos make a little idea of the damage suffered by the locals . Who had the roof discovered the roof will have to spend between 13,000 and 15,000 Euros , and the insurance will reimburse only part of it.
I think the most damage have suffered the little villages of Controni , San Gemignano , Vetteglia , Pieve di Controni , Gombereto , San Cassiano.
Giuseppe
Thank you for telling us about your damage. As I said it was difficult to get news of the storm. I was not able to get to the villages you mention to see the damage myself, but I will try to do so.
I am sorry to hear the cost of repairs. I was curious about insurance and whether an event like this would be covered.
We experienced a flood in our city a couple of years ago and the lower floor of our house was destroyed, so I have some experience of disasters. Luckily for us insurance covered the damage. I hope there will be some extra help by the community.
There’s my accoutn fo the damage at San Geminiano and surroundign area at
https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/03/08/the-night-of-the-tornado/
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