Severe convective storm systems swept across Europe in recent days, unleashing damaging winds, large hail and torrential rainfall that caused localised flash flooding. The storms are expected to result in aggregate economic and insured losses of hundreds of millions of euros, according to Aon.
The severe weather affected parts of Western, Central and Northern Europe, with notable tornado impacts in France and Germany.
Providing some meteorological background for the event, Aon explained that between August 19–21, a broad severe-weather setup spanning from Spain to Ukraine and Belarus brought widespread thunderstorms, with the highest risk from the Balearic Sea to northern Italy prompting an ESTOFEX Level 3 warning.
Strong winds were the main hazard, including several tornadoes in Germany and wind damage across Czechia, Slovakia, Austria and Poland. Heavy rain caused localised flash flooding in central Czechia, while large hail reached 7 cm in southern France.
Further severe weather reportedly followed on August 22–24. Low-pressure system Priska brought torrential rain and strong winds across the Baltic region on August 22–23, before another major outbreak developed across southwestern France and northeastern Spain on August 24, again prompting an ESTOFEX Level 3 warning for large hail and damaging winds.
Meanwhile, A powerful tornado struck Pomas in southern France around 17:00 local time, with damage suggesting IF2–IF3 intensity and estimated peak winds of roughly 200–300 kph.
At the same time, large hailstones measured up to 5 cm in France and 11 cm in Catalonia, Spain. Aon attributed the storm’s intensity to unusually warm Mediterranean waters.
Another severe convective outbreak on August 26 then produced large hail across western France, including stones up to 6.5 cm in Prayssas.
“Aggregated economic and insured losses from various hazards, including tornadoes, large hail, flash flooding, and damaging winds, are expected to reach hundreds of millions of EUR, with the majority of losses located in France,” Aon concluded.
