The storm that hit Slovakia on the night of August 20 ripped the roof off the airport in Silač, near Zvolen. See story on Page 2.
photo: ČTK
THE STORM that hit Slovakia on August 20 left houses without roofs and electricity, knocked down trees and filled streets with water.
Most of the damage was in the Prešov Region. Fires started by lightning damaged three houses, including a historic log house, and another four buildings in Osturňa, close to Kežmarok. The roof of a family house in Kamenica close to Sabinov was also destroyed, the Pravda daily wrote.
It took almost 300 firefighters to clean up after the storm. The regions of Bratislava, Trnava, Banská Bystrica and Žilina were also badly hit.
In Bratislava, firefighters rescued three men suffering from hypothermia. They were trapped outside of the 14th floor when they were cleaning the outside windows of the IBM building on Vajnorská Street.
The wind ripped the roof off the airport in Sliač, as well the roof of a 12-floor apartment building.
During the storm, the wind speed reached 70 kilometres per hour. But in some places it was much more - in Sliač, for example, winds reached speeds of 115 kilometres per hour.
The cost of the damage has not been calculated yet.
Meteorologists said this was a typical summer storm that arrived from Austria.
