Dozens of people injured and hundreds of homes are damaged after tornado tears through French village
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
A tornado tore through the village of Pomas in south-western France, injuring 41 people and damaging around 300 homes in a community of roughly 1,000 residents. The storm formed part of a wider weather system that battered the Aude region, prompting an orange alert, widespread power cuts and severe disruption to road, rail and air travel across the south of the country.
Fifteen of the injured were taken to hospital, including a pregnant woman who was trapped beneath a collapsed wall after part of her home fell in; police said a sofa had shielded her, though the condition of her baby remained unclear. More than 120 emergency workers were sent to the scene, with two shelters opened in Pomas and nearby Limoux and gendarmes patrolling overnight as fallen trees and displaced vehicles blocked several roads. Météo-France recorded winds of up to 73mph in Arquettes-en-Val, while a hailstorm with stones up to 5cm across forced the cancellation of the Vuelta a España's third stage; forecaster Météo Languedoc lifted its "threat to life" warning by 7pm. Around 2,800 homes across ten villages lost electricity, and airports in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and Paris reported delays and cancellations.
- Tornado hit Pomas, France, injuring 41 and damaging 300 homes
- Pregnant woman hurt as wall collapsed; baby's condition unknown
- Storms disrupted Vuelta a España, flights and power to 2,800 homes
New here? Start with this
Tornadoes are rare but not unheard of in France, and this one struck Pomas, a small village of around 1,000 people in the southwestern Aude region. Storm systems like this can develop quickly and cause severe, localised damage even though they are short-lived, which is why so many homes and residents were affected in such a small area.
The event formed part of a larger band of severe weather that prompted the French weather service to issue orange alerts, its second-highest warning level, across the southwest. Such systems can bring destructive winds, large hail and flooding, disrupting daily life well beyond the immediate area hit by the tornado itself, including transport networks and public events.
This matters because it highlights the human and material toll such storms can inflict on small communities with limited resources to cope, as well as the broader disruption severe weather can cause to infrastructure and services across a wider region.
Full account
A tornado tore through the south-western French village of Pomas on Monday, injuring 41 people and damaging hundreds of homes as severe storms swept across the Aude region. Fifteen of the injured were taken to hospital. Among them was a pregnant woman who was hurt when a wall of her home collapsed on top of her; her husband told the AFP news agency she had become trapped beneath the debris, though a sofa was credited with shielding her from worse harm. The condition of her unborn child had not been established.
Pomas, a village of around 1,000 residents, bore the brunt of the damage, with roofly stripped from houses and an estimated 300 properties affected. Meteo-France recorded gusts of up to 117km/h (73mph) nearby at Arquettes-en-Val, while footage filmed in the neighbouring village of Cépie captured the funnel forming and widening as it picked up dust and debris. More than 120 emergency workers were sent to the area, fallen trees and wrecked cars blocked several roads, and two temporary shelters were set up, in Pomas itself and in the nearby town of Limoux, for residents unable to remain in their homes overnight.
The tornado struck amid a wider bout of extreme weather across France's south-west, which authorities had placed under an orange storm alert. Power cuts and travel disruption followed: reports put the number of homes left without electricity at roughly 2,800 across ten villages, while flights were delayed or cancelled at airports including Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and those serving Paris. Rail services and roads were also disrupted. In the nearby Pyrenees, hail forced organisers to abandon the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race after riders were caught in the storm, with hailstones reported to have reached 3-5cm in surrounding areas.
Officials stressed the severity of the conditions at their height, with gendarmes deployed to patrol the affected area overnight and one regional forecasting service describing the storm as posing a threat to life before lifting its warning that evening. Météo-France has noted that France typically records several dozen tornadoes a year, though this episode followed closely on the heels of an unusually punishing summer for the country's south-west, which endured record heatwaves and one of its largest wildfires since the Second World War, having already burnt some 42,000 hectares of land.
Where outlets differ
One account includes more granular, ground-level detail — the pregnant woman's husband speaking to AFP, the sofa that is said to have protected her, gendarme overnight patrols, the two named shelters in Pomas and Limoux, specific hailstone sizes, and a regional forecaster's 'threat to life' warning being lifted by early evening — while the other omits these specifics.
The second account gives more emphasis to the broader knock-on disruption, citing a specific figure of around 2,800 homes without power across ten villages and naming France's Transport Minister, Philippe Tabarot, in connection with the airport disruption.
Only the second account places the tornado in the context of France's wider summer of heatwaves and wildfires, including the scale of a major south-western wildfire, and cites Météo-France's statistic that the country sees several dozen tornadoes annually on average.
The first account provides additional visual/location detail, such as footage of the tornado forming over the village of Cépie and reports of a car flung on top of another.