French village takes stock of tornado aftermath

BREAKING: A powerful tornado has ravaged the village of Pomas in southern France, leaving two people in critical condition, dozens injured and more than 1,400 homes without power.

A tornado tore through a village in southern France, and two people are fighting for their lives.

It happened in Pomas, a small community near Carcassonne. Around forty people were injured when the twister hit, and this morning more than fourteen hundred homes are still without electricity. These pictures show what residents woke up to, roofs gone, walls collapsed, streets buried in debris.

Look at this. A car crushed inside what used to be a building. Tornadoes of this force are rare in France, which is exactly why nobody in Pomas was ready for one.

Today, residents are walking through what's left of their village, taking stock, checking on neighbours, waiting for the power to come back. Local authorities say the two critical patients remain in hospital.

A village of a few hundred people, forty of them hurt in a matter of minutes. That's the story tonight.

This is Kateryna Kovalenko, reporting for HIT.