ROME - At least 20 people were injured as heavy hail showers struck northern Italy on Sunday, smashing windows and skylights in houses, and damaging cars, local emergency services said.

Hundreds of trees were uprooted by high winds as the freak weather hit the northern areas of Verona, Padova, Venice and Treviso, according to local fire services. People caught in the hail storm in Verona province were taken to hospital in Peschiera with head wounds, the ANSA news agency reported.

The freak hail storms hit as millions of Italians took to the roads during the busiest travel weekend of the year at the start of the peak holiday season. Hail measuring two centimetres in diameter (Hailstorm Intensity H2 to H4) was reported in the Mogliano and Casale regions of Treviso and hundreds of trees and communication poles were felled.

Copyright 2002 AFP & WeatherOnline; Picture: (c) Paolo Bussola

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