Southwest France storms leave up to 20,000 homes without power

Severe thunderstorms swept the southwest of France on the night of 10–11 July 2026, producing roughly 64,000 lightning strikes, including about 7,800 direct hits. Fallen trees and branches damaged the electricity network, causing power cuts that affected up to 20,000 households at the peak of the event.

The hardest‑hit department was Dordogne, where around 12,000 homes remained without electricity, followed by Gironde with roughly 7,000 and Lot‑et‑Garonne with about 1,000. Enedis mobilised crews and remote control systems to restore supply, expecting normal service to return over the weekend. The storms also sparked more than twenty fires, all quickly contained, and no injuries were reported. Authorities kept 47 departments under yellow or higher weather warnings as the region continues to face drought and high fire risk.