Gale blows off part of Milan rail station roof

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 7 - Gale blew off part of Milan central rail station's roof on Monday, local sources said.
    Safe routes in and out of the building have been laid down for passengers.
    High winds also ripped off the flags of Italy, Lombardy and the EU at the entry to the Lombardy regional council offices.
    The area has been cordoned off.
    The city council has closed public parks, the Castello Sforzesco and the courtyard of Palazzo Reale as a precaution.
    The roof of a nursery school was also blown off in nearby Segrate, and the roof of another school at Laveno Mombello near Varese was also torn off by winds of over 90 kilometres per hour.
    Public spaces were closed in Monza, while ferries to Corsica and Sardinia were suspended, local sources reported as the wave of freakishly high winds continued.
    In Cremona a tree was knocked down in a park, narrowly missing a party of school children.
    Federica Panicucci, a 54-year-old Italian television host and radio personality, said "I'm alive because of a miracle" after a roof tile blown down by the winds smashed into her car in central Milan.
    MIlan's Duomo weather observatory said winds of over 75 kph had been sweeping the Lombard capital.
    In all, in Italy, mostly in Lombardy, fire services were called out over 400 times to deal with wind-related problems with the biggest problems in Milan, Monza, Varese and Como.
    Ferry services to Naples Bay islands were also disrupted because of the high winds and heavy seas, local sources reported.
    A 64-year-old man is in serious condition in a Milan hospital after he and a 66-year-old female companion were hit by a tree blown down by high winds near the northern Italian city Monday.
    The incident took place at Rho.
    The couple were on foot in Piazza della Libertà when they were struck.
    The man was crushed in the abdomen, legs and a shoulder while the woman suffered only a glancing blow and suffered trauma to her back and a knee.
    She was taken to an emergency room in Rho with slight injuries.
    The man was rushed to Milan's Niguarda Hospital.
    A 76-year-old farmer suffered a broken foot and concussion after being hit by two falling trees near Milan, local sources reported.
    Northern Italy has been swept by high winds and gales over the last two days.
    Forecasters said Monday a "raid" of Arctic air will hit Italy until Tuesday, worsening the weather. (ANSA).