Twelve départements, including Paris and its suburbs, were placed on orange alert on Monday afternoon as a band of storm clouds formed over northern France.

French weather forecaster Météo France said: “Thunderstorms are already developing over the north-west of the country, as well as over the west of Île-de-France.

“In the middle of the afternoon, a line of thunderstorms is expected to form towards the Centre-Val-de-Loire, to quickly move up and circulate towards Île-de-France and then Hauts-de-France.

“These thunderstorms will give marked temporary rainfall between 10 and 20mm, even 40mm in places, hail and marked electrical activity.

“The risk of violent gusts of wind requires particular vigilance, as they are expected to reach 80km/h to 110 km/h at their peak.”

The département covered by the storm warning are; Aine, Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Loiret, Cher, Yvelines, Val d’Oise, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Val de Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis and Paris.

Less violent storms are also predicted for the areas marked in yellow on the map.