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Roads in an Italian tourist town have turned to rivers after it was hit by flash floods, as the whole of Europe braces for storms following a brutal set of heatwaves.

Footage from the quaint town of Chiavari, around 25 miles east of Genoa, showed scores of cars making their way through deep water that has beset the town.

The water was so deep that the grilles of many cars were submerged. Cars that powered through the flood sent waves of water out around them.

Many buildings, including homes and businesses, appeared to have water going in via their doors.

Residents were seen gingerly trying to walk through the least submerged parts of the streets, though the water appeared to go up to their knees.

Heavy rain has been falling since this morning. Meteorologists have reported that 126mm of rain has fallen on the town since 6am local time.

A yellow weather warning was placed on the wider Liguria region, which encompasses Genoa and Chiavari.

The whole of Europe is bracing for powerful storms, which have already caused extensive damage.

Footage from the quaint town of Chiavari, around 25 miles east of Genoa, showed scores of cars making their way through deep water

Cars that powered through the flood sent waves of water out around them

A woman died and at least two other people were injured across parts of Germany. Further south-east, in the Balkans, firefighters continued to battle wildfires that have been raging across Europe all summer.

In Waldorf, in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, a woman was struck by a falling tree and fatally injured. Another woman suffered serious injuries in the accident, police said.

The women, 58 and 47, were walking together when a storm rolled in and they sought shelter under a covered seating area.

Both women were struck when a tree was uprooted and fell onto the seating area. The 58-year-old died at the scene, a police spokesperson said. The 47-year-old was taken to a hospital.

A tornado struck the town of Fürstenwalde, 49 miles south-east of Berlin. Roofs were torn off and several cars were damaged by falling trees, and one person was injured.

In Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwald district in western Germany, a storm tore walls from buildings. At least two homes were affected.

Falling pieces of building facades and flying debris caused additional damage, and several trees were uprooted. A widespread power outage also hit the area, while strong gusts of wind overturned a truck on the A61 highway.

There were also numerous weather-related emergency calls overnight in Hesse, Thuringia and Bavaria.

Parts of a roof are lying on a street after a heavy storm damaged several buildings in Solms-Oberndorf, Germany, August 20, 2026

A thundercloud is moving over Lich in the Giessen district of central Hesse, Germany, Wednesday, August 19, 2026

A village festival in Kronach, Bavaria, was partially evacuated due to severe storms. About 3,500 guests had to leave the outdoor area of the festival grounds late Wednesday evening, local police said. They were able to continue celebrating inside the beer halls.

In Wetzlar, in Hesse, the storm damaged about 60 houses, according to the fire department. In some cases, pieces of roofing were blown as far as 100 meters away.

The German Weather Service warned that further severe storms could occur later in the day, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria in southern Germany.

While the storms in Germany were accompanied by cooler temperatures, searing temperatures continued to be recorded in southeastern Europe, and fires raged in some parts of the region.

In Serbia, a Russian firefighting plane joined efforts in Serbia on Thursday to fight wildfires that devastated a nature reserve in the northeast as the Balkan country faces a fresh heatwave in the coming days.

The Il-76 plane landed in Serbia on Wednesday evening, also illustrating continued friendly relations between the two countries despite Belgrade's proclaimed intention to join the European Union.

The fire in Deliblatska Pescara, or Deliblato Sands, first erupted a month ago, but was under control until early August when it started spreading swiftly, engulfing thousands of acres of pine forests and shrubbery.

Several other big fires also have been raging in other parts of the country, as well as throughout the region in the past weeks.

A roof of a building is severely damaged after a heavy storm hit several buildings in Solms-Oberndorf, Germany, August 20, 2026

Parts of a roof are lying on a street after a heavy storm damaged several buildings in Solms-Oberndorf, Germany, August 20, 2026

An extremely hot and dry summer this year has fuelled wildfires throughout Europe, from Belgium to Greece.

Croatian firefighters from the popular tourism hotspot of Dubrovnik on Thursday joined a struggle to contain a fire across the border in Bosnia to prevent it from spreading toward the medieval walled city that is a UNESCO protected heritage site.

'It was a hard night,' regional firefighting unit commander Stjepan Simovic said. 'The fire is huge and in an inaccessible terrain, so we have to be vigilant.'