Orange weather warning in Gascony last night (1 Viewer)

[Dorwyn]

Horrendous weather last night. We heard about the Orange weather warning but the weather seemed just great. We were sunning ourselves and watching some black clouds to the south that didn't seem to be moving when the weather front appeared at high speed over the trees from a different direction. We had no time to do anything, just ran to the awning and hung on. Debris was flying by, a large tin roof on a nearby shed was lifting, the air was thick with dust and leaves. There were four of us hanging on to the awning front for what seemed at least half an hour, THEN the lightening started, continuously flashing no more than 3 seconds between flashes at worst. So I quickly managed to take advantage of a slight drop in the wind to roll it back in.

The storm straps would have been useless, the awning was cracking like a lion tamer's whip. Guess what the moral is!! And in the past I've been quite happy leaving the awning out at night. Not any more. But we got off lightly. I've experienced bad weather in France before, but if that is an Orange warning, what's the Red like?

 

[Rob and Val]

Phew, that sounds really scary. Glad no damage was done .... to people or property.

 

[MikeD]

I also never leave the awning out over night since we had a huge storm in the Black Forest at midnight

Bent the awning a bit and would not wind in properly.

I also suspect a nearly naked me holding it down was not a pretty sight.

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[martin2603]

Had the same Airvault last night al calm then within 5 minutes we were in the midst of a violent tropical storm , horendous winds and lashing rain, trees coming down around us . Felt like Ahab and the whale fighting to get the awing in. Luckily the dish and awning were undamaged . Water was pouring out of us but skin is waterproof .
In daylight there were trees down all around the site one across a van and car. Luckily no casualties. Chain saws going all morning to clear up.
As you saw if in any doubt put awning and dish away .

 

[hilldweller]

Same in Ashbourne. We had lumps of ice hitting the roof I thought would break the plastic. Not checked the solar panel yet.

 

[Mack100]

All was calm and peaceful in Rhone Alpes last night, that sounds dreadful, just shows how quickly these storms develop.
I'll check the Meteo immediately. Hope you're all recovered now.

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