Geneva, Jul. 24, (dpa/GNA) – One person was killed when a violent storm struck a small town in western Switzerland on Monday.
Several other people were injured in the storm in the La Chaux-de-Fonds area, police in the region of Neuchâtel reported, without giving figures.
The person died when a construction crane fell and hit a car, which then caught fire. The Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) reported a gust of 217 kilometres per hour measured at the La Chaux-de-Fonds airfield late in the morning.
It is still being clarified whether it was a strong downdraught or a tornado connected to a rapidly developing thunderstorm that had hit the area, a MeteoSwiss spokeswoman told dpa.
The brief but violent storm also caused significant property damage in the town near the French border. The Keystone-SDA news agency reported a number of destroyed vehicles, torn-off roofs and uprooted and snapped-off trees.
Rail connections were disrupted after trees and a high-voltage pylon fell on the tracks.
GNA