A tornado tore through the village of Pomas in south-west France on Monday, injuring 39 people and damaging an estimated 300 homes, according to local authorities and BBC reports. The storm, with winds reaching 117km/h, ripped roofs off buildings, uprooted trees, and left vehicles and rubble scattered across the area. More than 120 emergency workers were deployed to the village in response to the disaster.
Casualties and Hospitalisations Confirmed
Local sub-prefect Emmanuelle Plantier-Lemarchand confirmed that 17 people had been taken to hospital, including a pregnant woman whose house collapsed around her during the storm. Plantier-Lemarchand also stated she was unaware of anyone reported missing. The extreme weather cut electricity to roughly 2,800 homes spread across ten villages in the Aude department, where Pomas is located, south of Carcassonne.
Residents Describe the Destruction
Eyewitnesses described the tornado's impact in stark terms. One resident, identified only as Pierre, said the tornado resembled a "huge red and yellow chimney" and that the storm's force had brought down portions of a centuries-old castle in the village. "Half the village has been destroyed," he said. "There's a huge castle and a third of it has collapsed — even though these are stones that have stood for 1,000 years." Another resident, Chantal, told French radio, "I heard this massive noise... then I saw everything flying around in the air and my roof collapsed. I've got no house left, that's for sure." One man also reported that his pregnant wife was hurt when their house came down around her. Eyewitness footage captured the tornado's swirling funnel rising above houses and trees on the horizon before it moved through the village.
Wider Disruption Across South-West France
The tornado was part of a broader wave of severe weather affecting large parts of southern France. Authorities had placed much of the south-west under an orange alert for thunderstorms before the Pomas tornado struck, with power cuts and transport disruptions affecting communities across the region. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed that flight delays and cancellations hit airports in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, and an airport north of Paris. Additionally, a hailstorm in the French Pyrenees forced the cancellation of the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race, which had been scheduled to take place in the Aude department.
Context and Recent Weather Patterns
France's national weather service, Météo-France, records several dozen tornadoes across the country each year on average. The latest storm follows a difficult summer for south-west France, which was among the hardest-hit regions during Europe's recent period of extreme heat and wildfires, including one of the largest forest fires recorded since World War Two, which burnt through some 42,000 hectares. In a separate incident, a rare tornado in the Netherlands killed at least one person and injured 10 others, marking the first fatal twister in that country for three decades.
