Sailors capture moment Corsica’s killer storm hits
Two sailors watch on as an unexpectedly violent storm cell hits Corsica late last weekA sailor has caught on video the dramatic moment a violent storm cell swept through the Mediterranean this week.
The video, shared on social media, shows the sailboat ahead of the August 18 storm front resting in flat and mild conditions with the engine running and anchored with 70 metres of chain laid out, according to the video's author.
The boat appears well prepared for the approaching front, with the tender tied to the deck and the sails and dodger secured.
Ahead, the water appears to boil as a violent downpour that would eventually go on to dump months of rain in just a few hours, churns up the water.
And then it hits.
What ensues is three minutes of terror as the two sailors struggle to keep the sailboat’s bow pointed into the tempest.
Between gusts, the skipper drove forward over the anchor. At least a couple of times, though, the sailboat is turned abeam to the storm and lists heavily, threatening to capsize.
The storm, which struck off the west coast of the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, would eventually go on to cause up to eight deaths and tens of millions of dollars worth of damage to property, including a number of boats that were washed up on shore.
More vision posted elsewhere on social media in the wake of the storm shows a group of boats trying to hide in the lee of land, jibs torn to shreds, bows pitching violently and bouncing off each other as they pull against their anchors.
At one stage up to 350 people were feared missing or killed as boats capsized or were cast adrift after moorings broke. At its height, the winds hit an almost unbelievable 220km/h.
France’s weather bureau issued an alert for the storm only moments before it hit, catching people by surprise. It later said the exact location of where the storm would hit was too difficult to predict before it happened.
The storm is in stark contrast to the French mainland, which is experiencing its worst drought as the lack of rainfall affecting most of the northern hemisphere starts to bite hard.
The Loire River, which is usually a hive of activity during summer, is so low that in some parts people can walk across it.
More heavy rain is predicted for western Europe later this week.
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