Tornado strikes cause damage

Two mini tornadoes touch down within hours of each other in separate areas of France

TWO tornadoes struck different regions of France, damaging buildings and felling trees.

They hit early yesterday and then in the afternoon at the villages of La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendée and Plan-de-Campagne near Marseille.

More than 100 homes and a school were damaged by the Vendée mini tornado. No one was injured.

One month's rain fell in the space of several hours, Météo France said.

A spokesman for the prefecture in the Vendée said it was a rare and isolated occurrence - only for a second tornado to touch down several hours later near Marseille.

The Plan-de-Campagne tornado struck a commercial zone leaving 25 people with minor injuries, some requiring hospital treatment. The Boulanger and Castorama shops were damaged as the tornado swept through the site.

Several videos of the tornadoes have been captured and uploaded to Le Parisien