'Traumatic' tornado shatters French village

Two people were in critical condition and thousands of households were without power on Tuesday after a "tornado of severe intensity" wreaked havoc in southern France, officials said. 

The tornado, which swept through the Aude department on Monday, hit the village of Pomas hardest, damaging around 300 homes and injuring 39 people, two severely.

Seventeen people were hospitalised, officials said.

By early Tuesday, 7,250 household across the Languedoc-Roussillon region were without power including 1,600 in Aude, said grid operator Enedis.

"A tornado of rare intensity struck Aude late yesterday afternoon, severely damaging the village of Pomas," Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X.

Marie-Helene Bouissac, the regional deputy prefect, said the tornado was "an exceptional and highly traumatic event".

On Tuesday, under clear skies, roofs ripped apart by the storm had already been covered with blue and green plastic tarpaulins, an AFP journalist saw.

Nearby fields were littered with broken deckchairs, scraps of fiberglass insulation and pieces of wire fencing ripped apart by the fierce winds that struck the village and its surroundings. 

Firefighters, including a canine search unit, inspected the site.

Emergency crews had worked throughout the night.

"Search and inspection operations are still under way, involving 75 firefighters supported by specialist reinforcement teams," the prefecture said.

At a police checkpoint, relatives and friends of those affected waited for permission to enter the affected area, bringing supplies or offering assistance.

Jose Gomes, a resident of the nearby village of Trebes, said a friend's house had collapsed.

"He was inside, he suffered a head injury and broke three or four ribs," he added. "He got out of hospital this morning."

France sees several dozen tornadoes of varying intensity each year, according to weather agency Meteo-France.