Winds of more than 100 km/h were recorded at the top of the Eiffel Tower during a flash flood on Tuesday, while similar winds were forecast for Wednesday in the southeast. Hail hit Paris and other areas in Tuesday’s sudden storm. Rainwater poured onto subway stairs and platforms, and cars crashed along embankments where the Seine River burst its banks. In southern France, storms overnight and on Wednesday flooded Marseille’s Old Port and the city’s central courthouse and forced the closure of nearby beaches. As scattered storms swept across Belgium on Wednesday, parts of the historic city of Ghent were flooded after weeks of unrelenting drought.
England was hit with torrential rains, storms
Traffic moves through a flooded section of road in London, England on Wednesday. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) London and other parts of southern England were hit with torrential rain and storms after one of the driest summers on record, which saw the country hit its first 40C temperature last month. There was widespread flooding as rainfall fell on dry ground. Despite the rain, much of Britain is still officially in drought. Thames Water, which supplies 15 million people in and around London, says the ban on watering lawns and gardens will come into effect on August 24. People are seen sheltering from the weather at the entrance to a London Underground station as torrential rain and thunderstorms hit the country on Wednesday. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) Much of Western Europe has experienced a season of extreme weather that scientists have linked to human-induced climate change. The dramatic rainfall ended weeks of record heat that left much of France parched, rivers dry and dozens of villages without running water. Lightning strikes near Montaud, southern France, during a storm on Tuesday. Severe storms hit the country, after a summer of drought, heat and forest fires. (Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images) Across much of Europe this summer, a series of heat waves have exacerbated a critical drought, creating prime fire conditions. Rain in recent days has eased the burden on firefighters battling France’s worst fire season in a decade, although emergency authorities said scattered fires continued to burn Wednesday in southwestern France. Water runs from a platform at the Victor Hugo metro station in Paris on Tuesday, as seen in a picture captured on social media. (Mathilde Bouchoux Vedel/Reuters)
