Video: Tornado near Paris leaves one dead and four people badly injured
Three construction cranes fell on homes and health facility
Three cranes collapsed due to the tornado
Domenichini Giuliano / Shutterstock / X / GMothron
One person has died and several others have been left badly injured after three construction cranes collapsed as a tornado battered northern France yesterday evening.
The tornado, formed as strong gales hit the north, swept through Ermont, Val-d'Oise, at around 17:30.
It hit a construction site, causing the three cranes to collapse. One fell onto a residential building, one onto a care facility, and a third onto the construction site itself.
More than 100 emergency service workers attended the scene.
No heightened weather alerts were in place at the time.
It is the first tornado-related death in 17 years in France - in 2008, three people in the Nord department died following a particularly intense tornado.
Images of the damage as well as a video of the cranes falling can be seen below.
A 23-year-old construction worker was killed. Four other people are in critical care, and five others were hospitalised, although it has not been confirmed whether these were also site workers or if they were passersby or residents of the damaged homes.
An investigation has been opened.
Labour officials inspected the site following the incident to check if the private sector company carrying out work were adhering to safety standards.
‘Apocalyptic scenes’
The extreme gales affecting the commune and several other surrounding areas caused damage elsewhere.
Several trees were uprooted during the tornado’s passage and debris was thrown around the commune. Telephone wires were also destroyed, and roofs were torn off of homes ihe tornado passed by.
Onlookers described the scenes as ‘apocalyptic’.
Emergency services responded to around 300 callouts in the area across the evening.
More images and videos of the tornado can be found below.
Tornadoes are rare but possible in France, with the country experiencing around 50 per year. They are usually very brief but powerful – as was the case yesterday – often lasting only around a minute.
According to weather forecaster La Chaîne Météo, the areas most at risk of tornadoes in France are the Hauts-de-France and Normandy regions, as well as the Poitou-Charentes, Vendée, Languedoc, and Provence areas.
They are uncommon in Île-de-France, where yesterday's accident happened.
