In Italy, three people died in freak accidents as violent storms raged in northern part of the country at the end of prolonged heatwave. Police said, a 41-year-old Belgian man was among the dead after a tree fell on his tent in the Tramontina valley. Another tree, uprooted by powerful winds, fell on a festival at Marzia in the Dolomites, killing another man.<br/>A hiker was fatally struck by lightening on a path up a mountain in the same area, the Marmolada. Rainfall in July was nearly 50 per cent lower across Italy than is normal and peak temperatures have been hitting at least 40 degrees Celsius across nearly the entire country for almost a week.