[kellyhound]

A tornado and hailstones the size of tennis balls has hit the Czech Republic’s south-east, rescuers said, razing houses and causing an as yet unknown number of fatalities.

Video footage from the region on social networks showed destroyed buildings and cars, shorn tree stumps and several fires with thick black smoke.

“It’s living hell,” said South Moravia regional governor Jan Grolich on Thursday after visiting the area.

The Czech news agency CTK quoted the mayor of Hrusky as saying that half of his village had been razed to the ground.

A local emergency services spokeswoman, Hedvika Kropackova, said there had been fatalities and that people were still trapped under debris.

Kropackova said they expected dozens of injuries. However, the hospital in the city of Hodonin on the Czech-Slovak border said it had treated up to 200 injured people.

Interior minister Jan Hamacek said “all available rescue units are in action or moving to the Hodonin region, where several municipalities have been hit by a tornado.”

Austrian and Slovak rescuers were helping out and the Czech army has also been deployed.

The tornado and huge hailstones struck several towns and villages including Hodonin, where in addition to causing injuries the extreme weather destroyed a retirement home and the local zoo.

The tornado also caused extensive power outages and traffic disruption, with fallen power lines closing a major motorway connecting Prague with the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

The storms forced the prime minister, Andrej Babis, to remain in Brussels following an EU summit because a landing in Prague would have been too dangerous.

In neighbouring Poland, a twister struck the southern Malopolska province on Thursday, damaging roofs and injuring one person.

[gimlet]

Unusual to have such a strong tornado in Czech. Looks like F3 or maybe even F4 kind of damage.

I had a F3 tornado heading towards my Chicago suburb this week, it touched down about 6 miles away and was heading our way. The air raid sirens went off. I didn't really care, we get multiple tornado sirens each season.

[pervM]

Sounds like the other guy in the 5th video is calling the local 911 and informing them theres a tornado. Water spouts are fairly common in Europe but ground tornadoes not so much, so I wonder if the 911 responder thought it was initially a prank.

[Kaboom]

Uk gets 20 - 30 confirmed tornados per year.

[Praamsaga]

[samipiggy]

thankful to not have been near a tornado. they scare the hell out of me. would rather live on the coast and have hurricanes.

[goober]

Originally Posted by samipiggy ↗

thankful to not have been near a tornado. they scare the hell out of me. would rather live on the coast and have hurricanes.

I live on the east coast and a tornado went through the neighborhood last year. It was a calm morning, and I listened to it for probably 30-45 seconds trying to figure out what the sound was as I’d never experienced one. Now I know.

When things started hitting the windows and the windows started shaking and then the walls started shaking, I realized what it was. It was by far the most terrifying moment of my life. I got “lucky” though compared to the damage done to some other people’s properties. No injuries were reported. It was terrifying but could’ve been much worse.