Two people have died in France following a wave of violent thunderstorms that battered central and eastern regions on Thursday, 16 July 2026. A woman was killed around 18:00 when a tree fell on her in Saint-Victurnien, Haute-Vienne, during severe weather. Hours later, a man was found dead in a workshop fire in Dolomieu, Isère, after the building was struck by lightning.
Météo-France had placed 30 departments on orange alert for thunderstorms, warning of gusty winds, hailstones exceeding five centimetres in diameter, and rainfall of up to 50 millimetres per hour. The storms follow a bout of extreme heat, with 31 departments under an orange heat warning on 16 July, a figure set to drop to 17 by Friday.
Utility operator Enedis reported that approximately 53,000 households were left without electricity as a result of the storms. The severe weather comes just one day after 13,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the country, when tennis ball-sized hail caused damage in Ardèche.