PARIS / Anadolu

Severe thunderstorms that swept through several French regions during the night cut power to around 53,000 homes on Friday.

Local channel BFMTV reported, citing electricity distribution company Enedis, that the outages were concentrated in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions.

It stated that around 25,000 subscribers in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and 20,000 in Nouvelle-Aquitaine were without power on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, France Info reported that the storms hit several departments, including Loire, Isère, Haute-Savoie, and Corrèze, accompanied by strong winds, large hailstones, and frequent lightning.

In the Loire department, fire crews carried out 422 emergency interventions due to damaged roofs, fallen trees on roads, and damaged vehicles.

Around 8,000 homes lost power at the peak of the storm, while regional train services between Lyon and Rouen continued to be disrupted.

In Isère, power was cut to around 5,000 homes, while a house in Haute-Savoie caught fire after being struck by lightning.

The strong winds forced organizers of the 'Lavle Breve' festival in Corrèze to cancel a concert.

The Keraunos observatory recorded around 3,000 lightning strikes in the Limousin region over the past 24 hours.

Météo-France, the French meteorological service, lifted all remaining orange thunderstorm warnings on Friday after the storms moved away from the country.

In recent weeks, France has experienced repeated heatwaves, with accompanying dry conditions contributing to large wildfires, along with successive storms that disrupted power and transport networks.