Severe thunderstorms battered several parts of France on Thursday evening, causing significant damage, interrupting transport services and cutting electricity supplies to thousands of homes, broadcaster Franceinfo reported.
The storms swept through multiple departments, including Loire, Isere, Haute-Savoie and Correze, bringing powerful winds, heavy hailstorms and intense lightning activity.
In Loire, emergency crews responded to 422 incidents after storm damage affected rooftops, brought down trees on roads and damaged vehicles. The severe weather also left as many as 8,000 households without electricity and disrupted regional train operations between Lyon and Roanne.
Neighbouring Isere recorded about 5,000 homes without power, while a lightning strike sparked a house fire in Haute-Savoie.
In Correze, strong winds led organisers to cancel a concert scheduled as part of the Lovely Brive Festival.
The Keraunos observatory said around 3,000 lightning strikes were detected across the Limousin region within the previous 24 hours.
Meteo-France removed all remaining orange thunderstorm alerts for southeastern France on Friday after the storm system moved away from the affected areas.
France has faced several bouts of extreme heat in recent weeks, with dry weather conditions fuelling major wildfires. At the same time, severe storms have repeatedly disrupted electricity supplies and transport networks across the country.
