Reported by: Karl Sexton with AFP, dpa | Edited by: Kieran Burke
A tornado damaged dozens of homes and injured around 40 people after tearing through a village in southwestern France on Monday, officials said.
The town of Pomas in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, home to around 1,000 people, was hit the hardest.
The tornado damaged approximately 300 homes in the village, uprooting trees and ripping the roofs off some buildings.
Fifteen of the injured, including a pregnant woman whose house collapsed while she was inside, were brought to hospital, AFP reported.
More than 120 firefighters and emergency personnel were sent to the scene to help with clean-up efforts, local officials said.
Emergency shelters have been set up for people whose homes were damaged.
Meteo-France, the national weather service, said the storm packed winds as high as 117 kilometers (73 miles) per hour in the nearby village of Arquettes-en-Val.
French authorities had issued orange storm alerts for much of the country's south and southwest. Several areas were affected by power cuts and severe transport disruption.
Around 2,800 households were still without power on Monday evening, officials said.
Roads were closed due to fallen trees, and trains were delayed, while airports in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice and Toulouse, as well as Paris, reported flight delays and cancellations, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said.
The third stage of the Vuelta a Espana, due to take place in the Aude department, was canceled after a hailstorm interrupted the cycling race.
(Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.)
