Re awnings in france

Hi from mirepoix in france. Just a warning about leaving awnings out when away from your van.
We are at the aire in mirepoix since 3 pm today, arrived to glorious sunshine ,there were 9 moterhomes parked , most with awnings and tables out,we didn't put ours out and walked to the
Medieval square in the town ,at 4.30 pm. Literally in the space of 2 to 3 minutes a thunder storm
With severe wind blew up and trapped us in a shop. When it abated about 1 hr later we went back to the aire where awnings were ripped off the moter homes pulling chunks from the moterhome sides,some were still attached but badly bent so that they wouldn't fold in , we left our sky lights ajar which let a large amount of water in, regards cmd

Good advice. Those roll out awnings need to be treated very carefully.

When rolled out always tie them down with guy ropes - securely. Even without a big storm, sudden gusts of wind can whip them up over the roof of the motorhome. Once those arms are bent they are usually scrap.

Of course roll them in if a storm is brewing or if you are going away from the van for a while.

it happened to us once in france too awning badly twisted but luckily nothing broken a lesson learned

Any pics?