Violent storms sweep France, lightning kills man
Date: 16-Aug-01
Country: FRANCE
The storms, breaking the torpor after days of intense heat, blew up from the southwest, where a young man was struck dead by lightning as he walked along a roadside, and a woman died when a falling tree crashed into her car, French radio said.
In the Perigord region, also in the southwest, 6,000 homes were left without power, the radio said as the wave of destruction moved north towards the capital.
Paris and the surrounding area bore the brunt shortly before midnight (2200 GMT) as powerful gusts of wind sent trees into a swirl and lightning lit the skies.
National weather agency Meteo France had predicted an abrupt break in a heat wave which pushed mercury levels above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the traditionally cooler areas yesterday, and it forecast more storms and a plunge in temperatures on Thursday.
Hailstone showers and winds of more than 100 km (60 miles) an hour were predicted through the night and into Thursday in the centre of the country and the Ile de France region surrounding Paris.