A tornado tore through southwestern France on Aug. 24, 2026, injuring about 40 people and damaging approximately 300 homes in the village of Pomas. The community, home to roughly 1,000 residents in the foothills of the Pyrenees, was the hardest-hit location identified by officials.
The storm uprooted trees and stripped roofs from buildings. Fifteen injured people were taken to hospital, including a pregnant woman whose house collapsed while she was inside. The supplied reporting did not detail the condition of those admitted or specify whether the remaining injured people received treatment at the scene.
More than 120 firefighters and other emergency personnel were deployed to help residents and begin clearing debris. Authorities established emergency shelters for people whose homes could no longer be occupied. With fallen trees and structural damage spread across the village, the response combined medical assistance, temporary accommodation and work to reopen affected areas.
Météo-France said winds reached up to 117 kilometres per hour, or 73 mph, in nearby Arquettes-en-Val. French authorities had issued orange storm alerts across much of the south and southwest as severe weather affected a broader region beyond Pomas. The evidence did not provide a measured wind speed from inside the tornado itself.
Power and transport systems were also disrupted. About 2,800 households remained without electricity on Monday evening. Fallen trees blocked roads, train services were delayed and airports reported flight delays and cancellations. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot named Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and Paris among the affected airports.
The weather also forced organisers to cancel the third stage of the Vuelta a España in the Aude department after hail interrupted the cycling race. The cancellation was one element of a wider day of disruption and not evidence that the tornado itself reached the race route.
By the Aug. 25 date attached to the report, the available information provided an initial damage and injury assessment rather than a final recovery picture. It did not state how many homes were destroyed rather than damaged, how many residents used the emergency shelters, or when electricity and transport services would be fully restored.
The clearest local impact was concentrated in Pomas: hundreds of homes affected in a village of about 1,000 people, dozens injured and a large emergency deployment. Across southern and southwestern France, severe storms added power cuts and travel disruption, stretching the event beyond the tornado's immediate path.
Emergency crews continued clean-up and support work while authorities assessed damaged buildings and removed hazards. No deaths were reported in the supplied account at that stage.
