Tornado tears through French village leaving dozens injured
A 117 km/h tornado strikes the French village of Pomas in the southwest, injuring 41 people and damaging around 300 homes.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- A tornado packing 117 km/h winds struck the French village of Pomas in the southwest.
- 41 people were injured, with 15 hospitalized including a pregnant woman.
- Around 300 homes suffered damage as roofs were ripped off by fierce winds.
- Power outages affected 2,800 homes across 10 villages in the region.
Severe weather has struck France as a powerful tornado tore through the village of Pomas in the country's southwestern region, leaving dozens of people injured and causing widespread structural damage to local properties.
Local authorities reported that 41 individuals sustained injuries during the severe storm, with 15 people subsequently transported to hospitals. Among the hospitalized is a pregnant woman who was injured after her residential building collapsed upon her. More than 120 emergency response personnel were swiftly deployed to manage the crisis.
The destructive weather system featured winds reaching speeds of up to 117 kilometers per hour, which violently ripped roofs off residential buildings and inflicted damage on an estimated 300 homes. In response, French authorities issued an orange thunderstorm alert for large areas in the southwest.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The extreme weather disruption has left approximately 2,800 households across 10 villages without electricity. Furthermore, officials in the Aude department cancelled the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race after a severe hailstorm in the French Pyrenees forced competing riders to seek shelter.
This violent meteorological event unfolds against the backdrop of Europe's increasingly volatile climate patterns, following an unprecedented summer marked by historic heatwaves and wildfires. Southwestern France previously suffered from one of the largest post-WWII forest fires in the region, burning 42,000 hectares, highlighting a broader pattern of intensifying extreme weather events across the continent.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot noted that the weather disturbances also caused flight delays and cancellations at airports located in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, and north of Paris. According to Météo-France, the country's national meteorological service, France typically experiences several dozen tornadoes annually.
Source: BBC Science & Environment
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