France has been shaken this Saturday by violent electrical storms that have left one person dead and 15 injured, two seriously. Storm activity is expected to decrease throughout Sunday according to Météo-France.
One of the seriously injured is a 13-year-old girl who is in critical condition, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has reported. This Sunday 15,000 French homes were still without electricity.
A woman in her 30s has died trapped under a car after being swept away by floodwaters in Rouen, the city’s mayor’s office west of Paris has reported.
Météo-France has lifted the orange warning for storms on Sunday morning for the 25 departments that were still affected, mainly located in north-eastern France. In some areas, the wind gusts exceeded 100 km/h.
In the southwest, hail several centimeters thick has fallen on part of the Armagnac vineyard, a famous French white wine brandy, winegrowers and local officials have assured AFP.
“We calculate between 4 and 5,000 the number of hectares of vines affected, and several tens of thousands of hectares of impacted crops” in the department of Gers (in the southwest), indicated the president of the departmental chamber of agriculture, Bernard Malabirade. According to him, hailstones of three centimeters have caused significant damage in the west of this department.
Lightning has lit up the sky both in Brittany and Normandy (West) and in the Loire Valley (center) or in Ile-de-France around Paris. Amateur photographers have posted images of the top of the Eiffel Tower struck by lightning in the capital on social networks.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
