Supercell storm brings on France's 'darkest day'

Meteo France said on Twitter that the country recorded around 44 000 lightning strikes on Saturday, with heavy rains and floods reported on several areas , including the city of Reims.

Video shared with Reuters showed a wall of storm clouds moving in over Rethel at around 8.55pm local time (1855 GMT) on Saturday.

The national weather agency raised its alert on Saturday for over 20 areas in the north and eastern parts of the country until 4pm local time (1600GMT) on Sunday.