Dozens injured as tornado tears through French village

A tornado ravaged a small village in southern France, leaving dozens injured and damaging hundreds of homes.

Rescue teams were continuing their search after the tornado late on Monday left the village of Pomas in ruins.

Marie-Helene Bouissac, the deputy head of the local government office, confirmed a total of 39 people were injured, including two in critical condition.

Some 300 homes were damaged and emergency accommodation centres have been opened to relocate residents.

The Aude prefecture said 1400 households were still without electricity on Tuesday morning.

The tornado wreaked havoc in the village of 1000 inhabitants, reducing homes to rubble and destroying numerous cars.

The region was under a thunderstorm alert at the time and wind gusts exceeding 100km/h were recorded at a nearby meteorological station.

The third stage of the Vuelta a Espana bike race, which was held in southern France on Monday, was halted because of hail.

According to Meteo France, the national weather agency, a few dozen tornadoes occur each year in mainland France, most of them of low intensity.