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A video about a woman's plan to enjoy an outdoor drink in Paris be thwarted by a sudden hailstorm has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was shared by Emily Jackson (@coucouemily), an American living in Paris. Jackson is a 33-year-old freelance copywriter based in the French capital, she told Newsweek. Her video has amassed 2 million views since it was posted on May 4.
Text overlaid on the clip says: "Let's go sit on a terrasse [French word referring to outdoor/sidewalk seating area] and have a spritz [Aperol spritz, a cocktail drink], it's so nice out."
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The text simply continues "Paris: " as the footage shows a view of outdoor tables and chairs covered in hailstones at a restaurant, with streets flooded with more hail and rainwater.
Jackson told Newsweek that she was sitting at Les P'tites Indécises, a restaurant in the 11th arrondissement area of Paris, around 4:20 p.m. local time.
She recalled: "We were sitting outside at the restaurant when it hit. But we were right by the door and as soon as we realized it was hailing, we were able to jump inside quickly."
"It was around 25 degrees [Celsius, around 77 degrees Fahrenheit] and sunny before the hailstorm, and slightly cooler but still sunny just after," she noted, with the storm lasting around 20 minutes.
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Jackson's video is one of several videos shared on social media capturing the chaotic scenes of people scrambling for cover as an unexpected storm hit the capital on Saturday.
The storm comes after a spring heat wave, which brought unseasonably warm temperatures in the 70s and 80s for several days.
France's national weather service issued an orange alert, which is the second-highest alert level, for various parts of the country. The alert warned residents and visitors of potentially dangerous weather, such as hail, damaging winds and heat waves.
Marble-sized hailstones were captured pelting down on the streets, causing windows to break, while cars were also reportedly damaged by trees struck by lightning.
Some metro stations in Paris were reported to have been temporarily closed due to flooding. Air traffic around Charles de Gaulle Airport, one of the busiest airports in Europe, also reportedly faced disruptions from the severe weather.
Thunderstorms are forecast for portions of southern Europe this week, including the southern parts of France, with a chance of it spreading north again later this week, according to the BBC.
'Insane'
Viewers on TikTok were alarmed by the scene captured in the viral clip.
Tony H 🇫🇷🇬🇧🇨🇦 said: "That was wild yesterday," and user6905247766729 agreed, saying: "Was just there. Crazy."
User nati wrote: "It was insane, I was still somehow pelted with hail even though I was huddled underneath a bus stop."
VicomteD noted: "It was a niiiiightmaaaare..." and maximkuzlin said "out of nowhere."
User @bbygaia222 wrote: "the way chaos erupted and then everything went back to normal as if nothing ever happened."
Maralee Bell noted: "omg you really had a front row seat to the chaos."
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