Solène Leroux, edited by Romain Rouillard with AFP
Violent thunderstorms, accompanied by hail and occurring overnight from Sunday to Monday, damaged around 340 homes in the Indre department out of a total of 15 municipalities. Car windows were smashed, 130 firefighters were mobilized, but no serious injuries were reported.
The weather was unleashed overnight from Sunday to Monday. In particular in the department of Indre where around 340 homes were damaged by violent storms accompanied by hail. These bad weather even managed to break car windows, according to the prefecture on Monday in a press release.
⛈️ #Thunderstorms accompanied by #hailstones sometimes very impressive last night over the center-west.
White (Indre), @VincentLhermet
South of #Niort@ac_17
Two Sevres, @AlineMartinet85
#Chateauroux, @AstridCassaz#vigilanceorangehttps://t.co/Mb0FgHqqbRpic.twitter.com/L2FCsorERE— Meteo-France (@meteofrance) May 23, 2022
“The Departmental Fire and Rescue Service handled 250 interventions, in 15 municipalities, mobilizing a total of 130 firefighters. The majority of the interventions concern operations relating to roofs damaged by hail and water infiltration”, detailed the prefecture, which reported 1,200 calls for help. “No serious injuries were recorded” but “a family of 6 people was accommodated in a gymnasium by the city of Châteauroux”, it is specified.
“Ripped roofs with water infiltration”
“I criss-crossed the streets of Châteauroux: at least four out of five vehicles were hit, with the windows shattered. I saw a dealer, with tears in my eyes. All the cars in his parking lot were hammered,” said continued Gil Avérous who estimates with Europe 1 that around 1000 vehicles are damaged. “An Ehpad had a lot of flooding, but it was not evacuated in the end,” he added.