Some parts of France have lost access to electricity due to stormy weather.

A gust of up to 175 km / h in Normandy and disruption of train routes in Paris disrupted 250,000 households in northern France on Thursday.

Train operator SNCF said that that traffic would be suspended until 08h00 GMT in Normandy due to the damages caused by the storm on the railway network.

Railway traffic was also disrupted north of Paris due to numerous trees that had fallen onto the tracks, added the SNCF.

There have been no reports of injuries.

Several departments were placed under orange weather alerts for “violent winds” by Météo France, but have now largely returned to green as the storm subsides.

Even before the storm arrived the sea off the coast of Brittany was choppy, with waves reaching several metres in height and spilling over sea walls.

As the evening wore on, wind speeds climbed to 140km/h in Plougonvelin (Finistère).

In the town of Plozévet in south Finistère, a “mini tornado” raged over three kilometres, damaging trees, cars, electricity cables and destroying a house that was being built.

This extreme weather caused trees to fall and power cuts to occur in several communes of the department, with roofs being damaged in towns including Heuqueville and Octeville-sur-Mer, where the residents of three houses had to be evacuated.

Fire and rescue crews were deployed to clear trees fallen across roads in Le Havre and Breauté, while several residents of Agon-Coutainville had to be temporarily rehoused after the wind ripped off 10 metres of their roof.