Half of the village of Hrusky was destroyed, a local official said
PRAGUE, June 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A powerful tornado has swept through several villages in the south-eastern Czech Republic, injuring 150 people and causing major damage, local media say.
Thursday’s storm blew off roofs from a number of buildings in the Breclav and Hodonin districts, uprooting trees and overturning cars.
The worst-hit places looked like a war zone in videos posted by witnesses.
Rescue teams from across the country and also from neighbouring Austria and Slovakia have been deployed.
Half of the village of Hrusky was destroyed by the tornado, a local official was quoted as saying by the Lidove Noviny newspaper.
In a tweet, Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek described the situation as “very serious”, saying that all available rescue units were being deployed.
The minister, who has now arrived to the disaster-hit region, said a state of emergency was declared.
Tornadoes aren’t as rare as you might imagine in Europe – it’s thought a few hundred touch down across the continent every year. Exact estimates vary, though, and some almost certainly go unreported as they hit in sparsely populated rural areas.
Tornadoes have been reported in every continent on Earth except Antarctica – and even here, they are theoretically possible.
But the US sees the most tornadoes of all, with more than 1,000 per year on average. The country also records more of the most violent twisters than anywhere else in the world.
Its mountainous landscape and proximity to the warm, moist Gulf of Mexico give the perfect conditions for violent supercell thunderstorms to form. And these are the storms that give birth to tornadoes. — NNN-AGENCIES
