Thunderstorms swept across metro Paris Sunday evening delivering 2.1 inches of rain in just 2 hours and 1.9 inches within 1 hour which set a 24-hour rainfall record for July and all-time hourly record. This broke the previous hourly record of 1.8 inches set in July 1995.

On the southern edge of central Paris, Montsouris Park received 2.6 inches and to the west of Paris, the village of Civray saw 3.3 inches. A month’s worth of rain falling on the streets of Paris within such a short period of time led to widespread flooding and disruption which carried on into Monday morning.

Rain totals within 12 hours.

Over 20 metro stations were forced to close due to torrents of rain water running down off the streets above.

These thunderstorms were prolific lightning producers.

Check out this image of a crane struck by lightning near Montparnasse tower, central Paris Monday morning.

Meanwhile to the east and severe thunderstorms over the Alps produced a tornado near Vienna International Airport. Check out these remarkable images.

Tags: paris flooding, paris rain, paris record rain, vienna tornado