A violent hailstorm swept across Spain's Tarragona province on Monday afternoon, killing hundreds of pigeons at the Port de Tarragona and dumping 77.4 litres of rain per square metre in 24 hours.
The storm forced the cancellation of the third stage of the Vuelta a España just 15 kilometres from the finish line. Emergency services were overwhelmed: firefighters received 162 alerts in a single hour between 18:30 and 19:30, while the 112 emergency hotline logged 373 storm-related calls by 19:00. Catalonia, Aragón and the Balearic Islands were among three regions placed on orange alert.
The severe weather extended into France, where up to 20 departments were under orange storm vigilance. A tornado near Carcassonne injured several people and damaged about 100 homes in the village of Pomas.