By Tuesday morning the warnings had been lifted but not before the violent weather had claimed the life of a 29-year-old driver who was killed by a falling tree.

The young woman was killed near the town of Montbeton in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the south west France when a tree fell on her car during a storm that saw the gales of over 100km/h.

(The scene of the tragic accident that saw a young driver killed by a falling tree. Photo: BFMTV)

In another freak incident a Bulgarian lorry driver was killed in the Charente départment when he struck by lightning. 

According to reports he stepped out of his truck at around 8pm near the town of Nonaville wearing nothing on his feet and was hit by a bolt of lightning. Paramedics were unable to resuscitate him. 

Another driver was fighting for his life after in a similar incident in the town of Castelsarrazain in the same area. In all there were reports that seven members of the public had been injured, five of them of them seriously.

In nearby Montauban there were dramatic images when a tree crashed down onto a tank storing of 5,000 litres of gas (see photo above).

The mayor of the town took the step of ordering all primary schools to remain closed on Tuesday, the first day of the new term, until all safety checks had been carried out on buildings.

Secondary schools would only open if they were deemed safe by the headteachers.

There were also reports of two trains being stuck with scores of passengers on board, including a TGV blocked for eight hours in Montauban and Toulouse airport had to be closed.

Firefighters in the Tarn-et-Garonne said they were called out over 200 times.

Elsewhere a lightning strike on a house prompted a massive fire in the Gers department and firefighters were called out to clear fallen trees and flooded basements across the area.

Falling electricity pylons meant that in all around 70,000 homes across the south west were hit by power cuts overnight.