Weather fluctuates

A heavy storm with strong winds, hail and rain has hit the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe as the weather changed following a week of record-high temperatures in the region.

Temperatures dropped significantly in some areas yesterday, bringing relief after reaching more than 40°C last week.

People cool off at a lake in Romania amid a
heat wave. Two teenagers drowned while
 bathing in a river in the country.

Slovenia’s STA news agency reported the storms ‘‘caused havoc’’ across the country.

Thousands of households were left without electricity as wind and hail flooded dozens of houses, collapsed trees and damaged cars and crops.

In Serbia, sudden heavy rains hit a mountainous region in the west on Monday before spreading to other parts of the country.

On Sunday, two men were killed in separate incidents in northern Italy when strong winds toppled trees which crushed them.

In other incidents, a hiker slipped to her death from a muddy path and a lightning strike killed a man walking in a forest.

Meanwhile, officials in neighbouring Romania retrieved the bodies of two teenage boys who drowned while bathing in a river to cool off during the heatwave.

Officials in the north-east county of Neamt said they pulled out the bodies of a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old. They had been swimming in the Siret River.

Romanian authorities issued a flood warning for parts of western Romania on Monday after heavy rain followed a weeklong heatwave.

Officials say at least two people died last week.

The National Hydrology Institute issued a ‘‘yellow warning’’ for the Mures River in western Romania, saying heavy rainfall Escaping from the heat: could produce torrents and flooding.

In Croatia’s Istria Peninsula, stormy winds on Sunday uprooted trees and damaged roofs. Temporary traffic restrictions were imposed in some areas along the Adriatic coast.

A wildfire broke out on Monday in the coastal Makarska area of central Croatia despite the cooling trend, engulfing pine trees and low shrubbery and halting traffic.

Authorities briefly stopped traffic on the main road along the coast, sending travellers to smaller routes.

Dozens of wildfires have erupted in Croatia and elsewhere in Europe during an extremely hot and dry summer.

Meteorologists say the heatwave return later in the week.

Story from the Shepparton News  -   “Weather fluctuates.”