Gusts of up to 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour lashed the northern half of the country, prompting the state weather service Meteo France to issue its second-highest alert and warning against people using their cars.

Temporary ice-skating rinks set up in the Eiffel Tower and in front of the City Hall were closed, as were parks, cemeteries and gardens.

The famous Chateau of Versailles near Paris was also shut and visitors were quickly evacuated. The property is still recovering from a 1999 storm which uprooted more than 10,000 trees on its manicured grounds.

The main Paris airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly were also hit, prompting delays of an hour for around 50 flights and some cancellations.

Many trains in northern France were brought to a standstill.

The state electricity company EDF said power was cut 260,000 homes, and emergency services said they had received thousands of call-outs because of falling tiles, branches and downed power lines.

A 61-year-old woman died in a chic western neighbourhood in the capital when a tree came crashing down on her car, police said.

An unidentified man believed to belong to a Gypsy community was also killed when a tile torn off a roof cut off his head in the western suburb of Vernouillet, other officers said.

Falling trees injured the occupants of a car in the northern village of Roye and a driver and passenger in a vehicle in the southwestern Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud.

In Normandy, a high bridge spanning the Seine river was buffeted by winds that knocked over a truck and a caravan, without causing injuries. Officials closed the structure after the incidents.