2023-11-02 09:38:35
Storm Ciaran, which hit western Brittany then Cotentin during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, November 2 with record gusts of wind, will begin to slide towards the west of Pays de la Loire and go deeper into Normandy. It has already caused one death in Aisne after a tree fell on a heavy goods vehicle, according to firefighters. A slight injury was reported in Finistère, in Plouédern, after a traffic accident caused by a falling tree, the prefecture said. In total, 1.2 million homes are still without electricity, including 780,000 in Brittany (Enedis)
24 departments on orange alert
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While 24 departments are on orange alert, according to the latest 6 a.m. bulletin from Météo-France, the Channel remains in red. The entire coastline from Pas-de-Calais to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is now on orange “wave-submersion” alert for Thursday, as are Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and the Alpes-Maritimes. Southern Corsica is also on orange alert for thunderstorms as well as rain-flooding. In Ile-de-France, Météo France has lifted the orange alert for violent winds, but gusts between 60 and 80 km/h are still expected until the end of the afternoon.
Orange “wave-submersion” vigilance is now activated for the coastlines of Finistère, Morbihan, Loire-Atlantique and Vendée, specifies Météo-France. Waves of eight to ten meters are expected on part of the Atlantic coast.
Falling trees, power outages…
In its bulletin published shortly before 3:30 a.m., Météo-France warns that a further strengthening of the wind is expected in the second part of the night in the departments on red alert with very powerful gusts. Numerous falling trees have led to the temporary closure of certain major roads, notably the RN12 in Côtes-d’Armor, and the RN 165 in Morbihan. Power cuts were also recorded in several departments, including Finistère, Morbihan and Manche.
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Exceptional bursts
In Finistère, Météo-France recorded around 3 a.m. 193 km/h in Plougonvelin, where Pointe Saint-Mathieu is located, 171 km/h in Lanvéoc, on the Crozon peninsula, and 156 km/h in Brest. “The wind gusts are exceptional over Brittany and many absolute records are broken” locally, indicates Météo-France on X (formerly Twitter).
In Morbihan, the prefecture indicated that gusts reached 164 km/h on the island of Groix, 152 km/h in Belle-Ile and 147 km/h in Lorient. “Gusts above 100 km/h extend from Vendée to West Calvados via Sarthe. At the stations of the Atlantic arc and the west coast of the Manche department, gusts have been observed around 150 to 170 km/h or even more on the exposed semaphores”, indicates Météo-France.
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The transport sector is slowing down
Due in particular to the risk of falling trees due to violent winds, the transport sector will operate slowly on Thursday in the west of the country. “On the road front, we have taken measures via the prefectures to ban the circulation of heavy goods vehicles […] This will be continued throughout the day on Thursday, particularly throughout the Brittany region,” said the Minister for Transport, Clément Beaune.
In Finistère, residents are prohibited from driving by car in the department until further notice, due to “the risks to which motorists would be exposed” on these roads “impeded by numerous obstacles” (trees, power lines, etc. .)
???? Notice to residents of Finistère: ban on driving in the department until further notice, due to “the risks to which motorists would be exposed” on these roads “impeded by numerous obstacles” (trees, power lines, etc. .) #Ciaran pic.twitter.com/sle8LuF1Rv
— Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) November 2, 2023
The Ministry of the Interior then clarified that Ille-et-Vilaine, on orange alert, was not affected by this traffic ban. The SNCF announced that it was planning “preventive stops of rail traffic” on Thursday morning on part of the RER A, several Transilien lines (L, J, U and partially N) and the T13 tram.
[#Ciaran????❌] The passage of the storm led to the interruption of traffic all morning between Cergy • Poissy and Nanterre–Préfecture. To stay informed in real time, consult the SNCF, RATP and Île-de-F sites & apps. Mobility. #RERA
— RER A (@RER_A) November 2, 2023
The airports of Brest and Quimper, in particular, “will not be in service between the end of the afternoon and at least the morning of tomorrow”, he added. For trains, TER traffic in Brittany, Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Pays de la Loire and Center Val de Loire will be interrupted from Wednesday evening to Friday morning. As for the TGVs, if 90% of them should run, traffic will be interrupted on the Paris-Le Mans and Paris-Nantes axes.
Rainy episodes to expect
In addition to the winds, Météo-France is concerned about a “rainy episode giving significant amounts of precipitation in a short time on already saturated soils”, including possible falls of still very leafy trees.
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