Storms leave 2 dead, 53,000 households without power in France

Two people were killed and around 53,000 households were left without electricity after severe thunderstorms swept across several regions of France overnight, Franceinfo reported on Friday.

A woman was killed by a falling tree in Saint-Victurnien in the Haute-Vienne department, while a man was found dead in Dolomieu, in the Isere department, after a workshop caught fire following a lightning strike.

The outages were concentrated in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions, where about 25,000 and 20,000 customers respectively remained without power on Friday morning, local broadcaster BFM TV reported, citing electricity distribution operator Enedis.

The storms affected several departments, including Loire, Isere, Haute-Savoie and Correze, bringing strong winds, large hail and intense lightning, according to Franceinfo.

In the Loire department, firefighters carried out 422 emergency interventions after roofs were damaged, trees fell onto roads and vehicles were hit by the storm.

At the height of the storm, up to 8,000 households lost electricity, while regional train services between Lyon and Roanne remained disrupted on Friday.

In neighboring Isere, around 5,000 households were left without power, while in Haute-Savoie a house caught fire after being struck by lightning.

In Correze, strong winds forced the cancellation of a concert at the Lovely Brive Festival.

According to the Keraunos observatory, around 3,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the Limousin region over the previous 24 hours.

Meteo-France lifted all remaining orange thunderstorm warnings on Friday after the storms moved away.

France has experienced repeated episodes of extreme heat in recent weeks, with dry conditions contributing to major wildfires, while successive rounds of severe storms have caused widespread disruption to power and transport networks.