Storm Alex causes havoc across Western Europe

NewsBharati    07-Oct-2020 15:56:19 PM
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Paris, Oct 7 : After making a landfall in France on Oct 2, Storm Alex is on a hazardous spree creating havoc in France, Italy, and United Kingdom. The storm is responsible for severe flooding in France and Italy. In some regions, it was mentioned to be the worst living memory. Until now, 2 have died and 34 are reported to be missing because of the Storm in France and Italy alone. After causing destruction in France and Italy, the storm has now advanced towards United Kingdom and Ireland.

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The storm was formed near Brittany ( Western France ) around Sept 30 to Oct 1 due to explosive cyclogenesis, which is usual around that latitude at this time of the year. However, the intensity of Alex was unprecedented. After its landfall, the french authorities had reported 18 people to be missing including 2 fire fighters. Alex caused devastating floods along the French Riviera. Rivers were observed to have burst their banks and destroyed bridges and roads along the bank.
 
The Alpes - Maritimes department was issued a Red Alert warning, where it rained 500 mm rain in 24 hours. The region had last experienced such severe rains only in Oct 2015, when around 15 - 20 people were reported to be dead due to dangerous flooding. More than 100 houses have been reported to be destroyed in Nice due to calamitous damage.

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The conditions were worse in Italy, when the storm hit the Northern region of Piedmont on Oct 3 and caused damage never witnessed before except in 1958. The region has reported rainfall of 630 mm in 24 hours. Initially 16 people were reported to be missing which increased later. After giving a strong blow to the countries of France and Italy, Alex has progressed towards northern countries of UK and Ireland and has caused destruction there as well.
 
Alex has caused severe flooding in certain parts of UK until Oct 6 and the region has been warned to experience high rainfall in coming days. The authorities ahve therefore cleared the way for rivers to flow freely by cleaning the debris collected due to flooding.