Two die as violent storms cross France

Two people have died as major storms moved across France yesterday (July 16), bringing hail, flooding and a mini-tornado.

A woman died in Haute-Vienne in central France when a tree fell on her, while in Isère in south-east France a man burned to death after his workshop was struck by lightning.

A supercellular storm in the Loire department saw hailstones several centimetres in diameter fall in the evening. Some of the hailstones were up to 8cm wide, according to La Chaîne Météo.

Firefighters answered 655 callouts across the department during the night, reported the prefecture.

Two lorries on the A72 overturned during the storms, causing severe traffic disruption. They were blown over by high winds on the motorway.

In Villars, a number of roofs were damaged by the hail.

A ‘mini-tornado’ formed on the outskirts of Saint-Etienne, south-west of Lyon, whipping up debris and uprooting trees near the ‘Nord’ hospital in the city.

It lasted around five minutes according to the weather observatory website Keraunos.

Around 8,000 homes in the department remain without electricity this morning, and more than 20,000 lightning strikes were observed across France yesterday – a yearly high.

Elsewhere, up to 35mm of rain fell in around half an hour in Ille-et-Vilaine, leading several communes to be flooded. This included Janzé, Pleine-Fougères and Breteil. 

Will storms and heatwave continue this weekend?

While the worst of the storms are over, more disturbances are expected in eastern France today. 

State forecaster Météo France says there is a risk of storms across central France - including Paris - as well as the Rhône and Loire Valleys, but that this is not guaranteed. 

Moving east the risk of storms becomes more likely, and along the German border they will be at their fiercest, with the risk of hail and lightning. 

However, no heightened storm alerts are in place on Friday daytime (heightened warnings were lifted by the 06:00 bulletin) with storms not expected to reach the intensity of the last two days.

Ten departments in the south and south-east remain on a tier-three orange heatwave alert, with both day and night-time temperatures in the area remaining high on Friday and across the weekend.

Temperatures of 25C - 27C are forecast across northern France on Friday, rising to 29C in the south-west, but in the south are expected to reach well over 30C in the departments facing heightened alerts. 

Stretches of the Mediterranean may even see temperatures of 35C or above. 

Looking into the weekend, calm conditions are expected across France, with only the German border set to see any real risk of rain or storms on Saturday (July 18). 

On Sunday (July 19), there is a risk that Mediterranean storms could clip areas from Perpignan to Montpellier, but will not move inland. 

Temperatures in the north will hover around 25C - 28C on Saturday, reaching just over 30C in the south-west, and the Mediterranean and Provence again seeing temperatures of 33C - 35C. 

Further cooling will take place in the north on Sunday, with temperatures unlikely to pass 25C, although skies will remain largely cloudless with plenty of sun. In the south-west, highs of 33C are possible, slightly warmer than the end of the week but far from heatwave levels. 

The south and south-east will continue to see temperatures of 30C and above. 

Forecasts for the start of next week see calm, sunny skies and warm temperatures, which will remain slightly above average for the season but out of reach of heatwave conditions. 

Small pockets of rain are possible in the east and centre of France, but are unlikely to bring anything more than brief showers.