A sudden and strong tornado hit several towns north of Paris yesterday, knocking down three construction cranes and blowing away roofs. A young worker died at a construction site and four other people were seriously injured, Agence France-Presse reported, citing authorities.
The town of Ermont, about 20 km northeast of Paris, was the hardest hit by the tornado that suddenly formed yesterday afternoon, said Prefect Philippe Court, noting that it was "something like a mini tornado".
Ten people were injured, one of them - a 23-year-old man - died. He was an employee of a private construction company working on the site, Pontoise prosecutor Guirec le Bra told AFP.
In the evening, the prefecture reported four life-threatening injuries and five non-life-threatening injuries.
Video clips published in "Ex" show how the three cranes collapse one after the other within a few seconds: one - on a construction site, the second - on a medical and social institution, without causing casualties, and the third - on a residential building.
To deal with the consequences, 80 firefighters, 50 police officers and 20 people from the emergency medical service were sent to the scene