Roofs have been torn off residential buildings and tree trunks are lying in the roads in Pomas in the Aude department. The tornado swept into the village late Monday afternoon, following storm warnings in the southern parts of the country.
17 injured people have been taken to hospital, two of them with life-threatening injuries. In one case, a wall collapsed on a pregnant woman, her husband told French media.
Images show a rotating column of clouds moving across the area. In the nearby city of Carcassonne, temperatures dropped from around 30 degrees to around 19 in less than an hour.
About 300 homes have been damaged, reports the newspaper Le Monde. Around a hundred firefighters and rescue workers are on site to help.
