Golf ball-sized hailstones battered French villages Wednesday as extreme weather events collided across Europe, leaving residents dealing with flooded streets, damaged homes, and disrupted transport — the latest evidence of climate breakdown reshaping the continent's summers.
The storms struck countries including France, Germany and Poland, bringing flooding, strong winds and heavy showers with large balls of hail on top of an exceptional European heatwave. In south-east France, people reported on social media seeing hailstones with diameters ranging between 5cm and 7cm around the towns of Aubenas, Vals-les-Bains and Lalevade-d'Ardèche. Streets were covered with a visible layer of hail.
Damage to Homes and Livelihoods
The hail damaged vehicle windscreens and several buildings, as well as vineyards — threatening the livelihoods of farmers already struggling with increasingly volatile weather patterns. Alongside the hail, torrential rainfall and strong winds led to localised flooding in France and Poland. Storms were expected to bring 30-50mm of rain to France, potentially more in some local areas.
In the city of Wrocław, south-west Poland, roads and tram tracks were closed because of flooding, as well as strong winds blowing trees on to tram cables. Residents were advised to remain indoors and prepare for power outages. The disruption affected workers trying to reach their jobs and families unable to access essential services.
Global Pattern of Climate Disruption
The European storms are part of a broader pattern of extreme weather events affecting vulnerable populations worldwide. In Asia, heavy rainfall and flooding associated with the monsoon in Bangladesh has killed at least 53 people. In the capital, Dhaka, and the surrounding areas, it's been raining for more than a week, with severe warnings for flooding and landslides.
One of the worst-affected areas has been the Cox's Bazar refugee settlement, from which residents were evacuated. The Chattogram district recorded 412.3mm of rain in 24 hours, the highest single-day July rainfall in the past 42 years. Overall, about a million people have been affected and thousands are living in government shelters.
The knee-deep flooding led to travel disruption, power outages and slower emergency service response times. A landslide covered a school in mud and debris last week, killing several schoolgirls and their teacher. Bangladesh is prone to flooding from the monsoon, as it's a low-lying country with multiple rivers, increasing the risk of flooding. Further intense downpours and prolonged rainfall is forecast, bringing further risks for flash flooding and landslides.
Why This Matters:
The simultaneous occurrence of record heat and violent storms across Europe demonstrates the accelerating pace of climate disruption — and the urgent need for coordinated EU action on both mitigation and adaptation. While wealthier European regions can rebuild damaged infrastructure, the catastrophic flooding in Bangladesh reveals the global inequality of climate impacts: the world's poorest communities bear the greatest burden of a crisis they did little to cause. Europe's Green Deal must include not just emissions reductions but also climate finance for vulnerable nations and investment in resilient infrastructure at home. As extreme weather becomes the norm, the question isn't whether Europe can afford climate action — it's whether ordinary people can afford the mounting cost of inaction.