Par
News
Published on
May 5, 2025 at 5:36 p.m.
Holds of five centimeters: a supercellular storm swept Paris this Saturday, May 3, 2025 afternoon, with “170 flashes detected, 10 which touched the soil on the municipal territory”, counted Keraunosthe French observatory of tornadoes and violent thunderstorms. They were announced, they were violent, and did damage to Paris, as our local editorial staff explains, but not only.
After the remarkable heat of Thursday, May 1 and Friday May 2, 2025, a clear conflict of air mass conflict was set up this weekend of Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May in France. Thunderstorms organized “along the convergence axis” have developed in particular in the north of the Center-Val de Loire region and then won the Yvelines before sweeping Paris and its small crown on Saturday.
But several fireplaces of strong thunderstorms have also been observed between the north of the Pays de la Loire and Alsace, including Champagne and Lorraine. Again, significant water blades and hailstorms two to four centimeters in diameter were noted.
It was the same in the southwest of the country, between South Aquitaine and West Occitanie. “We will notably remember the passage of a supercell which produced hailstones of four to five centimeters locally between Béarn and Armagnac, then a second on Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées) and Comminges (Haute-Garonne)”, retrace Keraunos.
And this Monday, May 5, it’s time to see the damage. Damaged bodywork, cracked windshields, damaged roofs … and even dead animals. The balance sheet is sometimes heavy.
A chosen foal in a meadow and 400 chickens killed by hail…
A particularly violent thunderstorm broke out in the municipalities of Visporte and Châtillon-sur-Colmont, in Mayenne, Saturday evening. And a one -year -old foal was found dead in a meadow, struck down, “a trace of burning on the forehead,” says Ouest-France.
Lightning also caused the death of 3,000 lambs in an exploitation in northern Tarn, “transforming a high-tech installation into a deadly trap”, details on its side The dispatch. The animals are asphyxiated.
About 400 chickens were also killed during a violent hailstorm which fell in the town of Lombia, near Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Saturday May, tells The Pyrenees Republic. The poultry was surprised by the downpour “and the tennis bullets that were rushing”, and did not have time to take shelter.
How to protect your house and car in case of hail?
To protect itself from hailled showers, the Generali insurance company gives some advice. To minimize the risk of damage to your home:
– Avoid closing your roller shutters because the window windows are much more hailstone.
– Equip your tarpaulins, essential to avoid water infiltration in the event of damage to your roof or windows.
– Store your garden furniture, outdoor goods and potted plants that could be damaged.
– Clean your gutters to facilitate the evacuation of large quantities of water or hailstones.
– Maintain your exteriors by cutting the dead branches of trees near your home.
To protect your car from hail?
– Park your car in a garage or under a covered shelter. In any case, avoid wooded areas.
-If you cannot shelter your vehicle, cover it with an anti-grilled inflatable cover or a tarpaulin. You can also use a thick blanket, a topper or an old bed duvet.
– Orient your vehicle so that the hailstones strike the front of the car and the windshield which are more resistant to shocks than the side or rear windows.
In Lyon (Rhône), it is an impressive collapse of the road on the road to the rise of the loop, which makes the news after these bad weather, shows our editorial staff which returns to the Images of the deluge of this Saturday.
Violent thunderstorms also fell on Lot-et-Garonne this Sunday, May 4, 2025, causing significant damage, especially in the agen sector and its surroundings, with watercourse overflows, details our local editorial staff.
A flooded school was closed this Monday in Haute-Garonne
In Labarthe-Rivière (Haute-Garonne), southwest of Toulouse, water has infiltrated in houses and the school was flooded. The town hall announced its closure for the day on Monday, May 5. In a message published on its site, the municipality calls on the inhabitants to transmit photos of the damage to it and indicates that it plans to request the classification in natural disaster.
And if temperatures have dropped since the end of the weekend, reducing this risk of thunderstorms (which will nevertheless remain this Tuesday in a few departments), others, more numerous, are already anticipated by weather models, as we explain in this article, during the weekend of Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11.
storms, hail and snow cost insurers 2.2 billion in 2024
The cost of climatic events in France reached five billion euros for insurers in 2024, less than the average 2020-2024 (5.6 billion), but much more than the average of the years 1982-1989 (1.5 billion), according to France Insurers. This figure of five billion euros class 2024 in 9ᵉ row in terms of costs for the profession since 1982, the date of the creation of the natural disaster regime.
In detail, storms, hail and snow cost 2.2 billion euros Insurers, natural disasters weighed for two billion and the 800 million harvest insurance. Storms and hail are covered in insurers’ damage contracts, while floods and droughts depend on the “cat nat” diet. The state then takes half of the costs, making it possible to reduce the invoice of insurers.
During 2024, the damage caused by Kirk and Leslie storms In October, and the Cévenols and Mediterranean episodes, amounted to 785 million euros. The floods that struck the North and Pas-de-Calais between November 2023 and January 2024 cost 430 million euros in total.
Follow all the news in your favorite cities and media by registering for my news.
