Severe storms, flood risk threaten Alps; Dutch tourists urged to prepare
Travelers heading to the Alps in the coming days should prepare for severe weather, including thunderstorms and exceptionally heavy rainfall. Meteorological services are forecasting up to 250 millimeters of rain on Saturday alone in southern Tirol, Austria—an amount exceeding the average total for an entire summer in the region, NOS reports.
Significant rainfall is also expected in other parts of the Alps, including Austria’s Vorarlberg province and northeastern Switzerland. The Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported that local mudslides and flooding are likely due to the extreme precipitation. Austria’s national weather institute has issued a yellow weather alert across large parts of the Alpine country. In Switzerland, orange alerts are in effect in several regions due to anticipated heavy rain.
The Dutch motorists’ association ANWB has issued a warning to vacationers, noting that road conditions may be hazardous as a result of the severe weather and its consequences.
In Italy, the weather platform Weerplaza reported that intense thunderstorms are expected, particularly in parts of Tuscany and around Lake Garda. These storms may bring strong wind gusts and large hailstones.
The warnings follow a pattern of increasingly extreme summer weather in Central Europe. Last year, heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding across Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria, killing at least 18 people.
