Video. Violent hailstorm in the Dordogne: pensioners take refuge in a tool shed

“I put a bucket on my head, to use it as a helmet. The image would almost make you smile. Maryse Chassain, however, has a quavering voice when she evokes the almost surreal scene of which she was the victim… “I put a bucket on my head, to use it as a helmet. The image would almost make you smile. Maryse Chassain, however, has a quavering voice when she evokes the almost surreal scene of which she was the victim at home, in Vanxains (Dordogne), Monday June 20 shortly after 10 p.m. Like every evening, with her husband, she will return her cats in her shed across the road. But the suddenness of the hailstorm that hit the Ribéracois put the couple in a situation as perilous as it was distressing. “We took refuge inside, but the hail shattered the tiles,” says André Chassain, a retiree. On the same subject Violent thunderstorms in the South-West: our file After the heat wave this weekend, the South-West was hit by violent thunderstorms which caused significant damage on Monday evening. A large part of New Aquitaine was still on orange alert on Tuesday. Deafening noisesThe couple, trapped, will then find refuge in a small tool shed, about 1.50 m high, sheltered by the shed. Fifteen interminable minutes, interspersed with deafening noises. When the hail stops, Maryse and André discover a building riddled with holes.