Thunderstorms of rare intensity crossed a large part of the country in the evening of this Wednesday, June 25. Up to 58 departments were placed in orange alert by Météo-Francea threshold then lowered to 42 at the end of the evening.
In all, more than 34,000 lightnings have been identified, including 4,000 in Gironde and more than 27,000 after the entry into force of orange alert at 4 p.m., according to Kéraunos (the French observatory of tornadoes and violent thunderstorms). The phenomenon has caused significant material damage, power cuts, high disturbances in transport and two dead.
According to Météo-Francethe thunderstorms of the evening will shift last night and Thursday to the northeast.
Two deaths identified
According to the daily Ouest-Francein Saint-Cyr-en-Pail (Mayenne), a 59-year-old man died after struck a tree fell on the road while he was driving in quad. The firefighters could not revive him.
A 12-year-old adolescent is also dead, struck by a tree carried by a burst of wind with picnacos, near Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), the prefecture at AFP told. In the Loiret, an octogenarian was struck by lightning in Patay. Transported conscious, he was taken care of at the CHU d’Orléans.
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More than 100,000 private electricity households in France
Holders who are large like eggs have fallen into the Basque country, especially in Urt and Bardos. Several buildings have seen their roofs ripped off and numerous overturned vehicles, reported the mayor of Urt to our colleagues from here.
According to civil security cited by BFMTVmore than 100,000 French households are currently deprived of electricity. Among them, some 13,000 homes are located in Dordogne and 12,000 in Indre, according to Enedis (formerly GRDF).
Records of wind gusts and a shaken capital
The capital was struck by a violent thunderstorm around 8:45 p.m., with torrential rains, strong winds and numerous falls of trees.
According to the Paris Firefighter Brigade Contacted by Le Parisienno one injured is to be deplored. “Paris is moving towards a return to normal,” said the firefighters shortly after 10 pm.
The debates interrupted in the Assembly
The speed of gusts of wind reached up to 112 km/h in the capital. The traffic in line 14 of the metro was suspended between Saint-Lazare and Saint-Denis-Pleyel for the rest of the evening. Due to floods, several metro and RER stations have been closed.
A water leak also interrupted the debate in the National Assembly on the situation in the Middle East as shown in this video posted on X (ex-Twitter). Roland Lescure suspended the session “The time that the firefighters come to assess all of this”.
Disrupted transport throughout France
The regional trains in Auvergne were completely arrested from 4 p.m. Traffic interruptions have also been reported in Occitania, Normandy and Île-de-France.
At Orly airport, the DGAC imposed a 20 % reduction in flights until 2:30 p.m. for security reasons.
