By Harvey Geh, Foreign News Reporter
DOZENS of schoolkids have been rushed to hospital with head injuries after vicious hailstorms battered Switzerland and Italy.
Children were injured as the extreme weather damaged buildings, tore off roofs, and sparked an urgent response from emergency services.
Hailstones the size of golf balls tore through Switzerland
Violent hail pummelled the country
Shocking pictures showed chunks of hail the size of golf balls in the aftermath of the terrifying storm.
Sports facilities and homes were also pictured with their windows blown open and roofs in tatters following the freak weather.
Around 40 people in Switzerland, mostly children, were rushed to hospital amid the chaos which unfolded during breaktime on Friday.
Locals in Zurich and Winterthur told how violent hail started to pummel the region – affecting airports and causing public facilities to close.
Shocking clips showed the freak weather battering Switzerland
Around 40 people in Switzerland, mostly children, were rushed to hospital in the chaos
A young girl, 11, told Blick: “I got hit on the head, I felt a little dizzy afterwards.”
At least 27 flights at Zurich Airport were cancelled, while cars were forced to pull over on highways as hailstones destroyed their windshields.
The supercell thunderstorm brought strong gusts of up to 90mph.
Swiss authorities said they received 450 calls in just half-n-hur – sparking an urgent response from hundreds of firefighters and paramedics.
One local said the terrifying storm “hailed like golf balls”.
The monster weather event also wreaked havoc across Italy as it rampaged through Europe and forged a trail of destruction.
At least 43 people were injured by the freak weather – while 10 churches and 10,000 cars were reportedly damaged.
Thousands of trees have also been blasted over by the strong winds.
States of emergency were declared in the provinces of Cremona, Mantua, Bergamo, Pavia, and Lombardy.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is said to be “closely monitoring the situation” in Cremona.
The savage storm also ripped through France, leaving a path of destruction in Cremona.
Shocking clips showed one man tumbling to the ground as he battles the winds raging across France’s Seine-et-Marne region on Thursday.
Trees bent at right angles as heavy rains lashed sideways from the sheer force of the gales in another wild clip.
Car and train windows were shattered in Paris after hailstones battered the vehicles.
One driver on the A36 near Besançon in France revealed huge icy hailstones the size of plums on the backseat of his car.
They had smashed through his windows while he sat in heavy traffic triggered by the punishing conditions.
Supercell storms are massive, spinning thunderstorms that last for several hours and whirl up to heights of ten miles.
Whipping up debris as they gust through towns, the gale forces are strong enough to rip up trees and throw branches at cars.
One man screamed in fear as a huge branch snapped off a tree and barrelled into his car while he was still inside.
In another terrifying clip, passengers on a train in Paris wailed as the windows crashed and caved in, spraying shards of glass.
Rainwater and hail lashed the carriage and forced commuters to flee.
Original Source: https://www.thesun.ie/news/17537073/hail-storm-hits-switzerland-france-children-injured/