Article Author:
Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) — Five people, including two children, have been killed in a violent storm that hit the alpine country, officials say.
A 4-year-old and her 8-year-old two girls died late Thursday after sudden strong winds knocked down trees on a lake in the Lavant Valley near the southern city of Graz. Officials said 13 people were injured, two of them seriously. Many of the victims were vacationers visiting popular tourist destinations.
Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen called the children's deaths an "unfathomable tragedy". Hannes Primus, mayor of nearby Wolfsberg, said the area "looked like a battlefield".
In Lower Austria, three women were killed when lightning struck a tree near the town in the center of the game and knocked it over.
At least eight people died at the same time as severe storms broke out in France and Italy.
