Le Figaro Nantes
For Roch Chéraud, the mayor of Saint-Viaud (Loire-Atlantique), a small town located about fifty kilometers west of Nantes, it is
"never seen"
.
Sunday, at the end of the day, an impact of lightning fell on a house in a hamlet of about fifteen dwellings.
The extent of the damage is substantial.
“Anything metallic was hit. The washing line melted just like the electric meter. The false ceilings were lifted by an explosion and the glass wool was thrown”
, lists the city councilor with Le
Figaro
.
"Even the metal parts of the entrance gate were damaged
," he adds to describe the violence of the phenomenon.
According to him, this one is comparable to
“the explosion of a bomb”
but
“without the burning smell”
.
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Canvas roof
The elected official, who was not present on the municipal territory at the time of this intense weather episode, indicates that the
"windows of his house",
located 1.5 km from the impact, shook according to relatives who s were there at that time.
He also recounts having received
“numerous echoes from the inhabitants”
which tend to show that
“the electric charge was very strong”
.
Yet another proof: a large pine tree that was near the house affected is also in poor condition.
The owner of the pavilion, a country house, was not injured.
“She was outside her house, in her car, when it happened
,” explains Roch Chéraud.
"When I talked to this lady, she didn't realize what had happened
," he said.
The accommodation being uninhabitable as it was, she was rehoused with relatives:
“The firefighters, who stayed on site for five hours, covered the roof because it was badly damaged.”
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High voltage line affected
According to the mayor, during the stormy episode, lightning also hit
"a high voltage line"
.
In its intervention report, the Departmental Fire and Rescue Operational Center (Codis) specifies that it is a 20,000 volt line.
Consequence: six surrounding hamlets comprising more than a hundred dwellings suffered power cuts.
“The situation was restored for the last outbreaks, Monday, around 4 p.m.
,” assures the city councilor.
This is also the case for drinking water.
During the weather phenomenon, a 160 mm pipe had
"burst on the public highway"
, according to the firefighters.
Veolia teams intervened to restore the situation.