Huge hail on video: Severe thunderstorms impact S. Europe

Severe thunderstorms in Southern Europe have produced large hailstones in Italy resulting in extensive damage as Croatia also feels the impact.

Heavy thunderstorms developed in the Veneto province in northeastern Italy on Wednesday. These produced extremely large hailstones over 10 centimetres in diameter, causing major damage.

Roofs and facades of houses were punctured by the ice balls. Countless car windows were smashed or damaged. More than 100 people were injured by hail, shards of glass, and falls due to the conditions.

Several supercells were responsible for the devastation. The WeatherRadar above shows the size of the severe thunderstorms in the affected region.

One person was seriously injured after falling from a roof.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, heavy thunderstorms also swept across Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.

Two people were killed in the Croatian capital Zagreb, a motorist and a pedestrian. Two others died elsewhere in the country, including a firefighter. One fatality also occurred in northern Bosnia.

Another eight people sustained injuries, most of them to the head, hospital doctors reported. The thunderstorms raged across the city with heavy gusts of wind, uprooting trees, damaging roofs and bringing traffic to a standstill.

In the evening, heavy showers from Italy just moved back over part of the countries.