A severe storm that hit central and northeastern Slovenia Sunday evening has left a trail of destruction, with hundreds of roofs peeled off houses and crops decimated, causing damage that will reach millions of euros.
Most of the damage is to houses, but it is estimated that 500 hectares of forest have been completely wiped out and another 5,000 hectares damaged, according to the National Forest Institute.
Gornji Grad, a small town 40 km northeast of Ljubljana, was among the hardest hit, as the storm damaged 80 buildings, including a local primary school, and some 30 kilometres of roads.
Mayor Stanko Ogradi estimates the damage at some five million euros, mostly due to the fact that strong winds leveled hundreds of hectares of prime pine forest.
The municipalities of Kamnik, Vodice and Komenda, north of Ljubljana, are also coping with the aftermath.
In the small village of Gozd alone, gusts of wind that reached speeds of 120 km/h peeled the roofs off 39 houses. In Kamnik proper, 30 houses and apartment blocks have been damaged.
A part of the roof of a primary school has been blown off, causing damage of EUR 100,000, according to Kamnik Mayor Tone Smolnikar.
Smolnikar estimates that damage in his municipality could reach EUR 300,000, but he says it is still too early for final figures.
In Vodice dozens of houses have been left roofless.
The situation was similar around the northeastern town of Lenart, where many roofs have been damaged, including on one of the primary schools. Some 5,000 sq. metres of an industrial building has also been flooded.
Lenart lies at the edge of one of the most fertile regions in Slovenia and damage to crops is extensive due to golf-ball-sized hail that battered the ground on Sunday.
The Lenart farm promotion service says that some 500 hectares of crops have been destroyed as well as some 30 hectares of vineyards and up to 70 hectares of orchards.
Insurance companies are busy estimating the damage but payouts will be steep judging by the number of claims.
Market leader Zavarovalnica Triglav said it had already received over 6,000 claims for damage to cars, building and crops.
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate and Education Minister Milan Zver toured some of the affected regions on Sunday and Monday.
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