Larnaka Tornado

An extraordinary event occurred in Cyprus at 3pm on the 26th of March, when a Tornado struck the coastal town of Larnaka. Local residents had to clean up the mess the following day after the large tornado hit the town causing damage to at least 10 cars, several houses and interference to the electricity lines. We heard local accounts of a sandwich van permanently parked opposite the stadium that was tossed on its side, collapsing trees and scaffolding from building sites caught up in the twister. Pergolas were falling from the sky and many roofs experiences destruction. The Electric Authority worked throughout the night to repair lines. 

The twister was filmed on U-Tube around the Larnaka Bay area of Dhekalia road and close to the British Military base. Take a look with this link:- U-Tube Larnaka Tonado .

In particular the Tornado struck the Antonis Papadopoulos stadium. Police, Fire crews and other emergency services rushed to the area to offer assistance.

Around the same time, a large hail storm with ice the size of Golf Balls brought traffic to a standstill on the Larnaka–Nicosia motorway, with similar downpours in Aridippou and Oroklini.

The event was reported on CNN Weather also on Friday, but unfortunately the Weatherman painfully quoted a number of the details wrongly. Alarmingly he introduced video footage from “Larnaka the capital of Cyprus in Turkey”! He could not have been more controversial with his error and no doubt CNN will rightly receive a rafter of complaints from proud Cypriots.

It’s been an incredibly wet winter this year in Cyprus, which comes in stark contrast to recent years, as the Island until the onset of 2009 was suffering from a severe drought and water shortages. The reservoirs are now full however and the water shortages are over for now at least. Last winter, I remember vividly waking up to a Hurricane, which propelled my Balcony table, chairs and large umbrella to the ground 3 levels down, despite the fact we secured them. I hope this does not become a trend.

No doubt that in a few months we will be back in a heat-wave of 40 plus degrees in Cyprus. Nevertheless, my fellow residents of Larnaka, do not know quite what to expect from the weather just now, as it’s been unusually cold, wet and stormy for quite some time!