Italy weather anguish continues as lightning strike kills tourist

A German tourist has died during a storm in Italy, in the latest death after a week of terrible weather.

The woman was struck by lightning on the Italian island of San Pietro, near the larger island of Sardinia, a spokesman for the Civil Protection agency told dpa Saturday.

The woman was hiking with her husband and son, according to news agency Ansa, when bad weather moved in, causing the family to end the outing on Friday afternoon.

Before they returned to their car, the woman was hit by lightning and thrown several metres into the air.

More than 15 people have been killed over the past week in storms, tornadoes, floods, mudslides and gale-force winds across Italy.

The north-eastern province of Belluno has been particularly badly hit. Angelo Borelli from the local Civil Protection Agency described some of the scenes as ‘apocalyptic’ with collapsed roads and downed telephone poles in winds of up to 180 kilometres per hour.

Weather warnings were still in place for Sardinia and Sicily.