VIDEOS: Hail, floods, and lightning batter France

The intense storms that have been pummelling France for most of the week continued yesterday (June 19), with scenes of hail, flooding, and lightning being recorded.

Powerful storms moved from west to east during the day to reach close to the German border.

Storms had already been present earlier in the week, with 6cm-sized hail and a mini-tornado in the Oise department being caught on camera. 

Read more: VIDEOS: Rain, hail and even a tornado batter France, storm alerts raised

Below are some of the most impressive images and videos captured of the storms.

Nantes hit by heavy rain 

The city of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) was at the epicentre of heavy rainfall in the evening.

Up to 40mm fell in around an hour – the equivalent oftwo to three weeks of average rainfall.

It led to flooding in the city centre.

Dramatic scenes of lightning strikes were also captured, in both Nantes and the nearby Indre-et-Loire department.

There was also flooding in the Maine-et-Loire.

Maine-et-Loire is one of two departments currently facing a heightened weather warning from official state forecasters in France today (although this is likely to change with further storms forecast today). 

Read more: Storm alerts continue and flood warnings raised in western France

Hail and flooding hits east

Further east, more dramatic scenes were captured, with a mixture of rain and hail falling. 

In Besançon (Doubs) streets turned white after being covered in hail. 

Hail also fell in Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire), damaging the crop of this year’s Beaujolais. 

In the Jura department, hail kept streets white close to midnight, making it difficult for cars to drive.