Italy struck with orange-size hail, tornado and beach fire

ROME – Hail the size of oranges has injured 18 people in an Italian Adriatic city, while a blaze in Sicily forced beachgoers to flee.

The Italian news agency ANSA quoted Pescara hospital emergency room officials as saying that Wednesday’s hailstorm caused cuts requiring sutures and bruises, especially on the head. Elsewhere in south-central Italy, hail in Venafro broke windows and windshields.

On the outskirts of San Vito Lo Capo, a Sicilian beach town, ANSA said 750 vacationers were able to return to their resort Wednesday after wind-whipped flames had forced evacuation by sea overnight.

In other bad weather Wednesday in Italy, a tornado swept through the area of Milano Marittima, knocking down some 200 century-old pine trees in the popular Adriatic Sea resort.