Tornado hits Pomas in southern France, injuring 39 and damaging 300 homes
A late-afternoon tornado struck the village of Pomas in the Aude department on 24 August 2026, leaving two people in critical condition, knocking out power to thousands, and disrupting regional flights.
Devastation in Pomas
A violent tornado struck the village of Pomas, located 15 kilometres south of Carcassonne in the Aude department, in the late afternoon of 24 August 2026. The storm tore through the community of roughly 1,000 residents around 17:20, tearing roofs off houses, collapsing walls, overturning vehicles, and scattering debris across adjacent fields. Local authorities confirmed that 39 people were injured, with two in critical condition and between 15 and 17 people admitted to hospital, including a pregnant woman whose residence collapsed. In the neighbouring village of Trèbes, resident José Gomes reported that an acquaintance was hospitalized with head trauma and broken ribs after his home fell.
Hervé Giné, the mayor of Pomas, described the rapid onset of the vortex:
It happened at lightning speed. At 17:00, we had children playing in the youth centre, preparing for the local festival, and then, at 18:00, the village and the population were devastated.
Emergency response and evacuation
Emergency personnel evacuated all residents of Pomas to assess structural damage across the commune, where approximately 300 properties suffered damage. Around 100 residences sustained severe structural destruction, and emergency teams identified more than 200 affected buildings by Monday evening. The prefecture deployed more than 120 emergency workers to the site, including 75 local firefighters reinforced by specialised teams. Displaced residents were relocated to emergency shelters opened at the La Tuilerie community centre in Pomas and in the nearby town of Limoux.
Senior regional official Marie-Hélène Bouissac commented on the scale of the destruction:
This is an exceptional event, and it is deeply traumatic for all the residents.
- Children gather at the Pomas youth centre to prepare for the local festival
- Tornado strikes Pomas, damaging roughly 300 homes and injuring 39 people
- Authorities cancel stage 3 of the Vuelta a España and open shelters at La Tuilerie and Limoux
- Enedis reports 7,250 homes without electricity across Aude, Hérault, and Pyrénées-Orientales
Regional transport and utility outages
The storm system disrupted transport networks and infrastructure across southern France. Grid operator Enedis reported that 7,250 households in the departments of Aude, Hérault, and Pyrénées-Orientales lost power by early Tuesday, while about 1,400 households in the immediate vicinity of Pomas remained without electricity. In the Aude department alone, up to 2,800 customers experienced temporary blackouts. Fallen branches and debris forced road closures and train delays throughout the region.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot announced disruptions and cancellations at airports serving Paris, Nice, Bordeaux, Marseille, and Toulouse. Sports events in the area were also halted, with organisers cancelling the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race in Aude after severe hail forced riders to take cover.
Severe weather conditions
The tornado in Pomas formed as summer heatwaves gave way to thunderstorms across south-western France, where national forecaster Météo-France had placed several departments under an orange weather alert. The agency recorded 26,000 lightning strikes across the south-west on Monday, making it the most active thunderstorm day of the year to date. Wind speeds reached 117 kilometres per hour in the neighbouring village of Arquettes-en-Val, with social media footage confirming the funnel cloud over Verzeille. While Météo-France notes that mainland France experiences dozens of tornadoes annually, most remain low in intensity.
