Tornado Hits French Village of Pomas, Injures 39 and Destroys 300 Homes
- A tornado ripped through the village of Pomas in south-west France, leaving hundreds of homes damaged and thousands without power
- At least 17 people were taken to hospital, including a pregnant woman whose house collapsed around her during the storm
- One resident said half the village has been destroyed, with winds of up to 117km/h tearing roofs off buildings across the area
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A tornado struck the small French village of Pomas in the country's south-west on Monday, injuring 39 people and causing widespread destruction to an estimated 300 homes.
Pomas, located south of Carcassonne in the Aude department, bore the brunt of the storm, with winds reaching 117km/h ripping roofs off buildings, uprooting trees, and leaving damaged vehicles and rubble scattered across the area. More than 120 emergency workers were deployed to the village in response.
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According to BBC, local sub-prefect Emmanuelle Plantier-Lemarchand confirmed 17 people had been taken to hospital and said she was unaware of anyone reported missing. The extreme weather also cut electricity to roughly 2,800 homes spread across ten villages in the region.
Residents describe the destruction
Eyewitnesses painted a grim picture of the damage. One resident, identified only as Pierre, described the tornado as resembling a "huge red and yellow chimney" and said the force of the storm had brought down portions of a centuries-old castle in the village. "Half the village has been destroyed," he said. "There's a huge castle and a third of it has collapsed — even though these are stones that have stood for 1,000 years."
Another resident, Chantal, said she was overwhelmed by the speed at which the destruction unfolded. "I heard this massive noise... then I saw everything flying around in the air and my roof collapsed," she told French radio. "I've got no house left, that's for sure." One man also said his pregnant wife was hurt when their house came down around her during the storm.
Eyewitness footage captured the tornado's swirling funnel rising above houses and trees on the horizon before it moved through the village.
Wider disruption across South-West France
The tornado was part of a broader wave of severe weather that hit large parts of southern France. Authorities had already placed much of the south-west under an orange alert for thunderstorms before the Pomas tornado struck, with power cuts and transport disruptions affecting communities across the region.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed that flight delays and cancellations hit airports in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, and an airport north of Paris. Separately, a hailstorm in the French Pyrenees forced the cancellation of the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race, which had been due to take place in the Aude department.
France's national weather service, Météo-France, records several dozen tornadoes across the country each year on average. The latest storm follows a difficult summer for south-west France, which was among the hardest-hit regions during Europe's recent period of extreme heat and wildfires, including one of the largest forest fires recorded since World War Two, which burnt through some 42,000 hectares.
Rare tornado kills one in Netherlands
Legit.ng earlier a tornado ripped through a city in the Netherlands, killing at least one person and injuring 10 others in the first fatal twister to hit the country for three decades.
Source: Legit.ng
