A THUNDERSTORM unleashed golf ball-sized hail and torrential rain throughout Austria – after a path of destruction in France.

The terrifying supercell storm whipped by way of cities, shattering home windows, flooding streets and inflicting almost £8m value of injury to agriculture.

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Highly effective thunderstorms battered Austria on Thursday, with the nationwide climate company Ubimet issuing the highest-level warnings in some areas, in accordance with Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

The toughest-hit areas have been reportedly Styria, Tyrol, and Decrease Austria.

In Innsbruck, western Austria, hailstones as much as 1.6 inches fell, whereas Tannheim within the Tyrolean Alps recorded over 60 litres of rain per sq. metre.

Lightning strikes additionally prompted fires in some locations – in Wörgl, lightning set a household house ablaze, Die Presse experiences.

The Tyrol fireplace division responded to round 150 calls, largely as a result of fallen timber and water injury.

Fügen, within the Zillertal valley, skilled a extreme hailstorm that flooded streets.

Wind gusts reached 70 mph in Micheldorf, Higher Austria.

Kurt Weinberger, chairman of the Austrian Hail Insurance coverage, stated the storms prompted main injury to agriculture, in accordance with Die Presse.

He stated: “Primarily based on preliminary assessments by our consultants, the full agricultural injury from yesterday’s storm quantities to 9 million euros (£7.7m).”

Austrian meteorologist Manuel Oberhuber posted a video of the extraordinary storm in Tyrol on X, writing: “Probably the most highly effective thunderstorms struck the Decrease Inn Valley in Tyrol yesterday.

“A “right-moving” supercell produced 2-inch hail, torrential rain and extreme wind gusts, as seen right here within the Fügen space.

“Many home windows have been shattered.”

In a separate submit, Oberhuber defined: “The hail evaluation reveals the trail of the supercell.”

“You possibly can clearly see that it veers sharply to the precise, heading east, in comparison with the thunderstorm simply north of it.

“A deviation from the conventional motion route can happen with robust wind shear and sometimes results in particularly intense storms…”

In the meantime, in France, at the least two folks – together with a baby – died after a violent storm prompted flash floods in Paris.

The storm produced 39,000 lightning strikes throughout the nation.

Within the Dordogne area of southwest France, big hailstones broken roofs throughout the peak of the storms.

Round 70 buildings have been broken within the commune of Belvès alone, The Telegraph experiences.

Tragically, in southern France, a falling tree killed a 12-year-old boy.

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