Clean-up begins after the storms

FORECASTER Météo France has lifted orange storm alerts for 22 departments, after the weather system that took a tragic toll as it battered a large swathe of the country from Aquitaine to Alsace over the weekend moves into Germany.

An 84-year-old man was swept to his death in flash floods near the town of Saint-Palais in the Basque region on Friday, while thousands of households were left without electricity as storms, accompanied by gale force winds, heavy rain, hail and lightning swept across the country.

Alsace was hit hard yesterday. Firefighters were called to numerous incidents. The roof of a school in Rixheim was blown off, and a lightning strike started a fire at a disused hangar in Bellefosse, while emergency services in Mulhouse responded to about 220 calls in total.

In Moselle, 15 people had to be treated for minor injuries or shock caused by falling trees, The Republican Lorrain reports.

In the southwest, about 750 homes were left without power in the south of the Tarn after a falling tree brought down power lines, and firefighters were called out 40 times - 24 in the town of Castres alone - as cellars flooded.

Power was restored to all properties at about midnight.

A traveller campsite was evacuated in Pau, when high winds brought down trees and flash floods caused by a 20-minute impassable.

Hail “the size of ping pong balls” damaged houses, cars and vineyards around Castelnau-d'Aude, while the RD116 was closed for two hours between Carcassonne and Bram yesterday evening after high winds brought down a number of trees.

This video reveals the violence of the storm that struck Carcassone. Also in Languedoc Roussillon, Minervois was hit by a powerful hail storm that caused serious damage to vineyards.

Meanwhile, a downpour in Lyon was accompanied by lightning.

Today, storms are still forecast in the south of France, but no orange alerts are currently in force.

Photo: Miss Elsa / Youtube