Violent storms leave four dead

AT least four people have been killed by storms that battered western France overnight, officials said yesterday.

Dozens more were injured and hundreds were evacuated from campsites to temporary shelters as trees came crashing down. A storm warning remained in effect as storms hit the coastal areas of Brittany, Normandy and parts of the Loire Valley.

Among those killed was a 16-year-old who died of a heart attack on Tuesday night at a campsite in Gennes, near Saumur, officials said.

Two people were killed in the Landes area, south of Bordeaux. Police said the two tourists killed in the storm were a Dutchman in his 40s and an 11-year-old German girl. In the neighbouring Pyrenees-Atlantiques, a 17-year-old was killed when he lost control of his scooter in the storms.