Tornado tears through French village leaving 41 injured and hundreds of homes damaged

A tornado has ripped through a village in southern France, leaving 15 people in hospital.

More than 120 emergency workers were sent to Pomas on Monday as winds reaching 73mph tore off roofs from buildings and damaged roughly 300 homes.

The aftermath saw 41 people get injured, including a pregnant woman whose home collapsed on top of her.

Footage shows a huge swirling vortex next to houses and trees before the tornado tore through the region,

Pomas, which is a small village in the Aude department of the Occitanie region, appears to have taken most of the brunt of the storm.

Trees can be seen completely ripped from the ground, along with badly damaged cars and piles of rubble from destroyed homes.

The tornado struck as parts of south-west France were placed under an orange thunderstorm warning.

The severe weather caused widespread disruption, leaving around 2,800 homes in 10 villages in the region without electricity, while transport networks were also hit.

Pomas 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.’

The extreme weather saw the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race, which is in the area, get cancelled after a hailstorm in the French Pyrenees forced riders to seek shelter.

There were also delays and cancellations at airports including Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice and Toulouse, as well as airports north of Paris, according to Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot.

France’s national weather service, Météo-France, says the country experiences several dozen tornadoes every year.

The latest storms come after a summer of extreme weather throughout Europe, with record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires affecting several countries.

France’s south-west has been particularly badly hit.

One of the country’s largest forest fires since the Second World War has already burned around 42,000 hectares.