This is the english translation of part of the contents of a letter that I sent to a french tutor shortly after May 1999:     

 "..... I would like now to tell you about my last visit to France, in May 1999.  I stayed for a week with a family at Saint Maur, just by the Marne and a stone's throw from the home of Charles Trenet, who unfortunately left you quite recently.  The French lady was giving me lessons in French.  During this visit, I had the chance to see the science museum at La Villette, and Eurodisney.  The weather was very fine all week, up until the last day.  That day, I decided to go for a walk in the Bois de Boulogne, in Paris.  I got on the train at St. Maur station (which is a surface station).  A little before going underground, it began to rain, and I had to close an open window.  I thought no more about it.

However, on leaving the underground twenty minutes later, at Avenue Foch, right by the Arc de Triomphe, I couldn't believe my eyes!   All around me, there were leaves.   Small branches, even big branches, were scattered all over the avenue, a large part of which was flooded with water from one side across to the other.  At the Bois de Boulogne, it wasn't only branches, but whole trees that were lying around everywhere.  Paris had been struck by a tornado during the twenty minutes that I had spent in the metro!!

I don't know if you remember that storm in Paris.  It was very localised, but 3 people, I think, lost their lives that day, two at the Bois de Boulogne (!) and another who was struck by a crane which collapsed, perhaps under the weight of the hail which accompanied the tornado.  I still have the issue of Paris Match which describes the event".