Dozens of people have been injured and hundreds of homes were damaged after a tornado tore through a French village.
Some 41 people were hurt as the tornado ripped through the village in the southwest of the country.
Authorities had placed swathes of the country’s southwest on orange alert for storms, and numerous areas were hit by power outages and transport chaos.
The hardest-hit village was Pomas, where around 300 homes were damaged.
The village has a population of around 1,000. Some houses had their roofs ripped off by the tornado.
A pregnant woman was among those injured when part of her home collapsed.
Her husband told AFP that she was taken to hospital after being trapped beneath a falling wall. Police said the sofa had protected her.
The condition of her baby is currently unknown.
An impressive tornado is observed from the village of Cépie in Aude, France
Stunning video footage shows the twister growing larger and picking up dirt in a French town in the Aude region
Some 41 people were injured as the tornado ripped through the village in southwestern France
Fifteen of the injured were taken to hospital.
Stunning video footage shows the twister growing larger and picking up dirt in a French town in the Aude region.
More than 120 emergency workers were deployed to the scene, local authorities said.
Gendarmes were due to patrol affected areas throughout the night, while two shelters were opened for residents unable to stay in their homes – one in Pomas and another in Limoux.
Several roads were closed as fallen trees and cars were strewn across streets.
In Aude, officials cancelled the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race, which was being held in the area, when a hailstorm forced riders to seek shelter.
Hailstones measuring up to 3cm to 5cm were also reported in nearby areas.
Météo Languedoc, an independent weather forecasting service in the region, warned people to avoid the Aude region because the storm posed ‘a threat to life’.
The warning was lifted by 7pm local time.
This photograph taken on Monday shows a damaged structure after a tornado struck Pomas
Pictures from Monday show a tornado developing in the village of Cépie, the worst damage was sustained in Pomas
More than 120 emergency workers were deployed to the scene, local authorities said
Several roads were closed as fallen trees and cars were strewn across streets
French authorities had placed swathes of the country’s southwest on orange alert for storms, and numerous areas were hit by power outages and transport chaos
The tornado was strong enough to fling cars and left the pictured vehicle on top of another
The national weather service, Meteo-France, said winds had reached up to 73 miles (117km) per hour in the nearby village of Arquettes-en-Val.
Storms across southern France upended the transportation network, delaying trains, forcing road closures, and causing delays and cancellations at airports in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and even Paris to the north, said Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot.
An estimated 2,800 homes were left without electricity across ten villages, officials said.
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