These phenomena, which began in the early evening, lasted only a few minutes, even a few seconds, but they hit dozens of houses, tearing off roofs, and forcing residents to leave their homes.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Monday sent her “support to the inhabitants of Hauts-de-France and Normandy”, also victims of severe weather, ensuring that everything was “done to help them”.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who came to see the damage in Bihucourt (Pas-de-Calais), promised to help “financially” the inhabitants affected because he described it as “scenes of war”.
“We have (…) already very largely mobilized insurers”, he also underlined.
These weather phenomena took place while the Somme and the Pas-de-Calais were placed on Sunday in “yellow” vigilance for thunderstorms by Météo-France, 20 other departments being in “orange” vigilance.
“It was really unlikely (…) to predict this episode”, assured Mr. Darmanin, promising however to “look at things with Météo-France”.
– “Five streets ravaged” –
In Pas-de-Calais, the gendarmerie on Monday banned access to Bihucourt and Hendecourt-lès-Cagnicourt, the two municipalities most affected by what the prefecture describes as “strong gusts of tornado-type wind”.
In Bihucourt, many roofs were torn off, concrete walls blown away, trees and pylons bent by the wind. The streets were strewn with rubble, branches or pieces of sheet metal, especially around the church, which was badly damaged, noted an AFP journalist.
In the school adjoining the town hall, the Red Cross distributed sandwiches and drinks, and a psychological cell was activated.
“The damage is very, very significant. There was truly a corridor effect of this tornado” in the center of the village, said on the spot the director of the firefighters of Pas-de-Calais, Philippe Rigaud. “About five streets are totally devastated.”
Some 90 houses have been affected and 48 are completely uninhabitable.
“People had a good reflex: many took shelter in their cellars”, greeted Mr. Rigaud.
“We have around 150, 200 people to relocate, for a very long period,” said the mayor, Benoît-Vincent Caille. “We will need donations, especially furniture”, and “volunteers”.
The towns of Ô-de-Selle and especially Conty, in the Somme, were also affected.
According to Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel Tabary, “80 homes are impacted” in Conty and a dozen homes are “uninhabitable” in this town of 1,800 inhabitants.
It essentially evokes torn roofs, branches and debris on the road. The roof of a school group “was completely blown off” and the Post Office “is unoccupied because the roof has been taken off”.
“I’m at 35 years of career, I’ve never seen that in the Somme,” said the firefighter.
“According to the testimonies, it lasted less than 5 minutes. Some speak of a minute 30 to 2 minutes. And then behind, rain, hail. And after blue skies, “he said. added.
In the Eure, less than 1,000 homes were still without electricity at the end of the afternoon, against 2,900 in the middle of the night, due to severe weather, according to a press release from the prefecture.
The event required the relocation of five adults and five children. Gusts at 136 km / h were recorded in Beuzeville.
Firefighters also carried out 107 interventions in the North.
According to Tristan Amm, forecaster at Météo-France, episodes of this type are extremely localized and “each time, the gusts exceed 100km / h, which is already enormous in absolute terms”. They perform in France “between 40 and 50 times a year”.
