Hautmont has around 16,000 residents and in the two streets that were most badly hit there were roofs ripped off, trees torn up from the ground and cars turned over. Five hundred homes in the town were damaged, 100 of those are now uninhabitable.
Rescue parties are still combing through the devastation in case there are any more survivors.
The tornado also reached Maubeuge, Neuf-Mesnil and Boussieres-sur-Sambre but these neighbouring French towns were not as badly hit.
France's Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie is reported to be travelling to the Hautmont area to assess the damages.
