Keyword: damage

The rector of Notre-Dame, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, has said that a wooden structure to receive worshippers should be erected in front of the fire-damaged 850-year-old cathedral while it is repaired, which is expected to take at least five years.

Days of unusually heavy rainfall across France, forecast to ease as of Wednesday, have left four dead in weather-related accidents and several people injured after a waterlogged embankment collapsed causing a Paris suburban train to tip over, while homes in parts of the north-east of the country were damaged by flooding.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the full cost of week-long floods is still unclear and pledged a special fund for those worst-hit.

The winegrowing regions of Cognac, Chablis and Beaujolais have been badly hit by weekend storms raising fears of a serious blow to this year's harvest.

Bordeaux and Burgundy producers face financial disaster after storms devastated thousands of hectares of vine uninsured because of high costs.

Severe hail storms destroyed thousands of hectares of vine in the region around Bordeaux, leaving uninsured producers facing huge losses.