Heavy Thunderstorm with Hail in the Locarno Region
Published: Saturday, Aug 26th 2023, 12:40
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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A severe thunderstorm with hail the size of tennis balls hit the Locarno region in the night of Saturday. In Ronco sopra Ascona, a hotel was so badly damaged that most of the rooms were unusable. The storm and hail came unexpectedly, according to the hotel owner. The roof of the hotel looked like a Swiss cheese, with numerous windows shattered by the hail. Water had entered the building in many places, making more than half of the rooms unusable. As heavy rain is predicted for Saturday night and Sunday, the hotel owner expects to have to close the hotel for a while. The fire brigade of Locarno was called out 38 times, mostly due to flooded cellars. The hail was the largest the fire brigade commander had ever seen, and many cars were damaged with their windows shattered. The region of Brissago/Ronco was temporarily without electricity, according to the local electricity company. The storm began at around 9:30 pm on Friday, with strong winds driving the hail against cars and houses. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries.nnnnnnnnnnnn
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