Storms sweep in from north to break heatwave

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 17 - Storms are sweeping into Italy from the north to break the recent baking heatwave caused by the Lucifer anticyclone.
    Heavy rain and thunderstorms have caused flooding, traffic disruption and crop damage in the northeast so far.
    There have been over 200 requests for intervention in Veneto.
    Fire teams have been called out another 200 times in Alto Adige.
    A similar number of interventions was made overnight by fire crews in Friuli because of a deluge that hit a broad area between the provinces of Pordenone and Udine.
    The River Oglio broke its banks near Brescia.
    Meanwhile the rest of Italy continued to suffer intense heat with Palermo on red alert.
    And there were further forest fires in Sardinia, in the Gallura region.
    Widespread rain and some violent thunderstorms are set to break the recent baking heat wave in the north of Italy, forecasters said Sunday. The worst of the downfalls are set to hit Piedmont and Lombardy late Monday and then spread to Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. The weather front will be marked by intense downpours, local hail storms, frequent lightning strikes and gale-force winds, forecasters said.
    The civil protection department has issued a weather alert for the four regions. A yellow alert is in place Monday for storm risk in Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and much of Lombardy and Piedmont. The www.iLMeteo.it website said Monday that the Lucifer heat wave that has had Italy in its grasp over the last week will start easing with the arrival of cooler north Atlantic air Monday, taking temperatures back down 10-12 degrees to seasonal averages after setting a record of almost 49 degrees C in Sicily.
    The cooler air will spread from the north, with accompanying rainstorms, to the centre on Tuesday and the rest of the country on Wednesday and Thursday, the website said. But it will be a brief respite and temperatures will rise back to 33-35 degrees C at the weekend, www.iLMeteo.it said. On Monday some seven cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence were on red heat alert, while on Tuesday only Palermo will be on that level of alert for heat.
    Summer forest arson fires continued to blaze Monday and two agriturismi and a home were evacuated near Perugia. (ANSA).