23 departments on orange storm alert

A large swathe of central and northeast France is on high alert for storms throughout the day, Météo-France has warned.

While the southeast of the country bakes in a heatwave, 23 departments further north have been placed on orange alert - the national forecaster's second-highest alert level, which urges people in the area to be 'very vigilant' - for violent thunderstorms, with winds of up to 100kph, hail and locally very heavy downpours.

The departments on Meteo-France's orange alert list are: Ain, Doubs, Jura, Loire, Haute-Loire, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Rhône, Haute-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, Vosges, Territoire de Belfort, Allier, Aube, Côte-d'Or, Marne, Haute-Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, Nièvre, Puy-de-Dôme and Yonne.

The latest warning comes after overnight storms left 17,000 homes without power in the Guéret area of the Creuse. Another 300 properties were affected in Haute-Vienne, while powercuts have also affected parts of the Périgord vert and Bergeracois in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

The weather system that caused the overnight outages was set to cross the northeast by lunchtime. After they pass, Météo-France said areas on alert would enjoy a brief lull, before a second wave of storms sweep northeast this afternoon.

The forecaster's latest weather warning lasts until midnight.