A truck driver has died, 1.2 million homes are without electricity and transport is disrupted on Thursday morning as Storm Ciarán rages along the French Atlantic coast.
The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, indicated in statements to France Info radio that the death of this driver in the Aisne department was caused by a tree falling on the truck.
The minister called on the population to avoid road travel, adding that the Côtes d’Armor, on the coast of Brittany and Manche in Normandy, have been put under a red warning due to strong winds.
Another 24 regions, all on the Atlantic coast, are under an orange storm warning for Ciarán.
Trucks are banned from driving in the Brittany region and five regions in north-west France have canceled all their regional trains today (Brittany, Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire and Pays de la Loire).
Ten percent of high-speed trains (TGV) were also suspended in France, while traffic on routes such as Paris-Le Mans and Paris-Nantes was suspended. In the Paris suburban service, a large part of line A (one of the busiest lines) is stopped.
Two airports in Brittany, Brest and Quimper, have been closed since Wednesday and planes had to be diverted at others in northwestern France.
There were some delays at Paris airports this morning due to the storm, the minister acknowledged.
According to authorities, wind speeds of almost 200 km/h were recorded in Finistère, in Brittany (west), causing power outages and falling trees, but no major damage was recorded.
On Wednesday night, wind gusts of up to 193 kilometers per hour were recorded on the coast of Brittany in Plougonvelin, near Cape Saint Mathieu, 171 in Lanvéoc, on the Crozon peninsula or 156 in the city of Brest.
In Normandy, wind speeds between 150 and 170 kilometers per hour were measured.
On the coast, Météo France warned of the risk of strong waves, between six and eight meters on most of the Atlantic coast, and between eight and ten meters in Brittany.
Enedis, the EDF subsidiary responsible for electricity lines, indicated that 1.2 million households were without power this morning. The company mobilized 3,000 employees to deal with predictable disruptions.
Source: DN
