A man in his fifties died Thursday afternoon struck by lightning in Gaillard, Haute-Savoie, during the violent storms that fell in the day on the department, we learned from the firefighters.
The tragedy took place shortly after 17:00 on a parking lot of this town of 11,500 inhabitants located southwest of Annemasse, they said, confirming information from France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. "The victim was declared dead on the spot despite the rapid intervention of first aid," the same source said.
Psychological care of witnesses
Ten people, witnesses of the lightning, were taken care of by the medical-psychological emergency cell of the department, attached to the Samu. The Weather Channel had placed eight departments on orange thunderstorm alert Thursday morning, before downgrading to four in the middle of the afternoon (Drôme, Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie).
«
Thunderstorms shift mainly to the center-east, between the Cévennes, Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne, Burgundy, Franche-Comté and the Grand Est. The departments east of the Rhône and Saône are the most exposed to strong thunderstorms with hail and sudden gusts. The period from 15 p.m. to 20 p.m. is the most virulent. They look strong with a risk of hail between the Rhône, Isère and Haute-Savoie, "said in a statement The Weather Channel.
Population urged to be cautious
The Haute-Savoie firefighters also said in a statement that nearly 160 interventions were recorded around 19:00, "mainly for exhaustion (pumping water), falling trees or tiles". They added that the situation was in the early evening being stabilized but "that trees and roofs" (could) be "weakened", before inviting the population "to the utmost caution".