At least 250,000 homes across northern France were left without electricity on Thursday morning after gale-force winds and heavy rain from Storm Aurore battered the region. Normandy, Brittany, Lorraine and the Ile-de-France department, which includes Paris, were the worst hit. 

Houses and power cables were damaged by falling trees, but the worst effects of the storm were limited to property. Several homes in the western Brittany region were destroyed by flash floods. 

Nobody was killed in the storm and there have been no reports of serious injury at the time of publication. Some 3,000 engineers were deployed across the region to restore power on Thursday, according to energy firm Enedis. 

Cover photo: Fred Tanneau/AFPTV