Tornado Devastates French Village, Injures 40 and Displaces Hundreds

On a Monday morning in late August, a tornado descended on Pomas, a quiet village of a thousand souls at the foot of the Pyrenees, reminding the region that nature's indifference to human order can arrive without warning and depart leaving everything changed. With winds exceeding 117 kilometers per hour, the storm damaged some 300 homes, injured around 40 people, and sent disruption cascading outward through power grids, transport networks, and the rhythms of daily life across southern France. It is the kind of event that compresses time — before and after — for everyone it touches, from the f