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Roads in the Alpine town of Gap appeared like white rivers of ice following a freak supercell storm that pounded the area with giant hail, torrential rain, and strong winds.
The Hautes-Alpes community, typically bustling with late-summer holidaymakers, was struck on Thursday evening by the extreme weather system dubbed by Météo-France as ‘the most violent and devastating type of isolated storm.’
Video and photos shared by Dauphiné Libéré show major damage across the town, with debris scattered and roads covered in ice from the hail.
Meteorologist Paul Marquis took to X to describe the chaotic scenes: ‘It was a deluge of hail and strong gusts of wind up to 90 km/h!’
He added: ‘The city of Gap has just experienced its most intense storm since September 14, 2022.’
Firefighters were compelled to conduct multiple interventions throughout southern Hautes-Alpes, primarily due to flooding from the sudden downpour. Additional incidents involved trees that had toppled onto roads.
In Gap specifically, the rain fell at such an intense rate that local shops experienced complete flooding, as reported by local media. A false ceiling also collapsed at a middle school.
Roads in the Alpine town of Gap appeared like white rivers of ice following a freak supercell storm that pounded the area with giant hail, torrential rain, and strong winds.
The Hautes-Alpes community, usually filled with late-summer holidaymakers, was battered on Thursday evening
Huge hailstones also hit the town, in what the Météo-France calls ‘the most violent and devastating type of isolated storm’
Meanwhile in Switzerland, thunderstorm and lightning resulted in a house catching fire
The severity of the freak weather left some homes in Gap and its surrounding areas without electricity as the storm struck while summer temperatures remained high across Europe.
According to reports, despite several damage to properties, there were no casualties recorded.
Meanwhile, in Switzerland, violent storms brought lightning and hail almost the size of golf balls, with one strike setting a house on fire.
Video footage captured yesterday shows ice battering the east of the country as huge bolts of lightning ripped through the sky, illuminating streets before slamming into rooftops.
In one clip, the roof of a home was engulfed in flames after being struck, with fire crews racing to tackle the blaze as hail continued to hammer down.
It comes as Europe’s summer of 2025 was marked by unprecedented wildfires and extreme heatwaves. Temperatures in many of the continent’s towns soared to record levels, contributing to the fires.
In Spain and Portugal, wildfires scorched over 640,000 hectares, accounting for two-thirds of Europe’s total burned area this year.
These fires led to at least eight deaths and forced over 35,000 evacuations. In one dramatic scene, tourists had to be rescued on boats as fire spread across a beach in Spain.
Several properties, including houses and cars were damaged in wildfires across several Portuguese towns
Several Spanish cities were engulfed in flames. While climate change was blamed for some, authorities believed arsonists started some of the blazes
Wildfires spread quickly across several cities in Turkey this summer
In Turkey, wildfires ravaged forests and villages, exacerbated by prolonged drought and high temperatures.
The fires led to significant property damage and strained firefighting resources.
Fires also gripped parts of France, Italy, Albania, and Bulgaria, and Cyprus, where several luxury villas were burned down, and two elderly people died while trying to flee in their car.
A British couple told Daily Mail how their dream home was burned down as they scrambled to leave as wildfires approached.
While some of these were blamed on the effects of climate change, others were said to be caused by arsonists.
