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FIERCE STORMS PACKING strong winds and torrential rains killed at least 15 people overnight in Macedonia’s capital of Skopje, police said.
“As of 8:30 this morning (6.30am in Ireland), we have discovered 15 victims (of the storms). Our teams are still searching for other possible victims,” police spokesperson Liza Bendevska told AFP.
Six people were missing, according to the police, while media reported that about one hundred others suffered injuries, most of them minor.
Among the dead was an eight-year-old girl, a hospital source told AFP.
“This is a disaster, we have never experienced such a thing,” said Skopje’s Mayor Koce Trajanovski.
Rain began falling at 3.30pm yesterday and stopped only at 7.30am this morning, with the peak of the storm in the middle of the night.
The freak weather included winds blowing at more than 70 kilometres an hour and resulted in flash floods and landslides, local media reported.
Cars were seen swept away by the torrents, testifying to the force of the storm.
Villages
Jornal de Notícias / TwitterMau tempo faz 15 mortos na Macedónia https://t.co/H0JSI7Ha43 pic.twitter.com/KcxEwXBcom
— Jornal de Notícias (@JornalNoticias) August 7, 2016
Especially badly hit were villages on the outskirts of the capital including Smilkovci, Singelic, Stajkovci and Aracinovo.
Reports said the water level reached as high as 1.5 metres in some of the affected areas, which were being combed by Macedonia’s police and army for survivors and other victims.
Meteorologists said more than 800 lightning strikes were recorded in the first two hours of the storm, which went on for about five hours in total.
Macedonia’s hydrometeorological service said 93 litres per square metre fell in two hours on Skopje – equivalent to the average for an entire month of August.
Municipal authorities urged people to avoid going out in the streets, especially driving, with several roads of the capital still flooded and traffic interrupted on the city’s ring road.
Violent storms also battered the northwestern city of Tetovo causing property damage but no casualties, while severe thunderstorms also affected the holiday spot of Lake Ohrid in the southwest.
Skopje previously suffered disastrous flooding in 1962, a year before a huge earthquake that almost destroyed the city.
In the spring of 2014, the Balkans region was hit by its worst floods in more than a century, which left 47 people dead in Serbia and Bosnia.
A total of 1.6 million people were affected.
I’m taking Met Eireann’s warnings with a hefty pinch of salt. Last time there was a yellow snow warning where I live, there wasn’t enough to make a snowball, let alone a snowman. I hope I’m wrong though, for the kids’ sake.
@Greg Ward: ah sure last week it forecasted for today, put your Toboggin back in the shed
@Greg Ward: To be fair they were pretty accurate so. Yellow is the lowest grade of warning, and it did snow a little. They can’t tell the future…
@Greg Ward: I hope you’re not wrong, for the homeless peoples sake.
@Greg Ward: my ol’ grandaddy used to tell us to avoid the yellow bits when makin snowballs
@Anthony Edward Healy: Hopefully we’ll get some snow. All the same, my peurile humour means that I smile every time I see ‘Yellow Snow Warning”.
@Greg Ward: agree with you have the shorts at the ready
@Greg Ward: Maybe the councils will use a hefty pinch of salt…..on the roads I mean.
@Greg Ward: poor you. No snow in your garden means met eireann were wrong. There was enough snow nearly everywhere else to make them 100% right.
@Greg Ward: you’ll be hoping you won’t need a hefty salting lorry
@Paul Furey: not really though.
@Greg Ward: moaners will always moan
The Beast is back! Last time I had the day off work and walked through the snow to the local pub. This time around I’m all set up to work from home and as for the pubs… sigh.
@Handsome McWonderful: just back from a walk and that wind would cut through kevlar. Freezing.
@Handsome McWonderful: The meteorological system that caused “The Beast” in 2018 also caused the February heatwave in 2019.
If it snows the he whole country will be in lockdown! Oh no, wait.
Minus 2 hardly anything out of the ordinary this time of the year.
@Bernard Mc Grath: who said it was out of the ordinary ?
All of us that have had to stay going out working can have a nice few snow days while you “WFH’s” can keep things ticking over.
Will the schools close?
Temperature to drop as low as “-2” honestly not really a big deal.
@Mark Gaffney: Its currently -20 in parts of the US
Making a big deal over nothing
If our local German retail stores are stocking ski gear then it must be true
@Paul: lol you can go skiing with your new Ankle Grinder and that tool kit you always wanted for Christmas ;)
Get a few ssssccchhhticks for the fire lads!
No more snow days lads
Great windy mor in Dublin to stick the washing on the line
No sign of snow on met eireann app
such a soft nation….
The BEST for the WEST and
The BEAST heading for the EAST.
Forget about Thursday, what about accurate forecast for mon, tues, wed?. Met office seem more confident with westerly airflow. Lost other wise.
have your say