A sudden severe storm struck the French commune of Bouzonville in Moselle department on Sunday afternoon, 20 July, bringing pea-sized hail and torrential rains that caused significant disruption.
The extreme weather event began at around 4pm, lasting approximately 30 minutes but leaving lasting impacts.
Eyewitnesses described the storm’s rapid escalation: “The sky darkened quite noticeably. It started to rain normally. This was followed by a strong gust of wind and very heavy rain. After five minutes, it had turned into a hailstorm with hailstones the size of peas! They were pounding hard against the Velux window, I thought the glass would break. A real deluge. The whole thing lasted about ten minutes. With such intensity that the water flowed to the point of overflowing the manholes. Calm returned after half an hour.”
The hailstorm lasted about ten minutes, with precipitation so intense it overwhelmed drainage systems and flooded streets.
Météo-France had placed the Lorraine region under orange alert for violent weather, with forecasts predicting wind gusts up to 120 km/h and a severe hail risk. Luxembourg’s Meteolux had issued a concurrent yellow alert for the area.
Newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain reported that the deluge caused severe flooding at Bouzonville’s entrance, completely submerging a key tunnel and forcing authorities to implement emergency traffic diversions.
While conditions calmed after half an hour, municipal crews continued addressing the aftermath into the evening.
