At least two people have died as violent thunderstorms hit France overnight following a prolonged heatwave, and 53,000 households were left without power on Friday, French media and local grid operator Enedis said. In Saint-Victurnien, in the central Haute-Vienne department, a woman died after a tree fell on her on Thursday evening, and in Dolomieu to the east a man was found burned to death late on Thursday in a workshop that caught fire after being struck by lightning, AFP reported on Friday. A municipal police car drives down a street during a rainstorm in central Lyon on 16 July, 2026. (Photo by OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP) Grid operator Enedis said on Friday that 53,000 households were left without power, with cuts affecting mainly the Auvergne Rhone-Alpes area in the Southeast and the Nouvelle Aquitaine in the Southwest. Weather service Météo-France on Friday lifted the orange alert for thunderstorms in all the departments of Southeastern France that were previously affected, having earlier warned of large hailstones and gusts of wind from the Massif Central to the Alps.
