Storm Nils swept across southern France, leaving about 850,000 households without electricity and prompting the highest-level weather alerts in some departments, the authorities said on Thursday.

French power provider Enedis announced that 850,000 homes were without power on Thursday morning due to the storm.

Of the affected homes, 485,000 are in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and 318,000 in Occitanie, the two regions hardest hit by outages and severe weather.

The disruption comes as Meteo-France, the national weather service, placed four departments on red alert and 32 on orange alert for Thursday, warning of dangerous weather conditions.

For Friday, the agency expects a slight easing, with two departments remaining on red alert and 27 on orange alert.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on social media on Thursday that one person has died and another has been seriously injured after a tree fell during the storm in southwestern France. He urged the public to remain vigilant, limit travel and strictly follow local safety instructions.