LIGHTNING STRIKES AND KILLS MAN NEAR CELJE, ANOTHER SLIGHTLY INJURED

LJUBLJANA, AUGUST 21 /SRNA/ - One man was killed by lightning near Celje, while another sustained minor injuries, police said.

Severe weather hit Slovenia last night, accompanied by strong winds and heavy downpours, prompting firefighters to respond to 51 incidents by this morning.

Around midnight, police received a report that lightning had struck two people who were standing under a small tree in Mala Pirešica, about 10 kilometres from Celje.

The 46-year-old man died at the scene from injuries sustained in the lightning strike, while the other man was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Celje.

Several fires caused by lightning strikes were reported during the storm. A barn caught fire in the municipality of Solčava, and houses in the municipalities of Žirovnica and Rogaška Slatina, Slovenian RTV reported.

According to the Celje Police Administration, the roof of a residential building also caught fire in Cerovec pod Bočem.

A lightning strike most likely caused a fire in an auxiliary building in Podolševa as well. The fire completely destroyed the building, which contained several agricultural machines, and one cow died.

Meteorologists are forecasting the possibility of heavy showers and even hail again today, prompting an orange weather warning to be issued for the entire country.

New storms are already forming over Western Europe and the Gulf of Genoa, and local showers and thunderstorms are expected to begin developing in Slovenia as well.

According to assessments by most weather models, a more pronounced storm line is expected to form over Istria and the Kvarner region at around 4:00 p.m.

The storms will then move eastwards and are expected to cross most of Slovenia in less than six hours, the Slovenian Environment Agency /ARSO/ said.