2023-11-03 12:54:00
The death toll from storm Ciaran which hit Europe rose on Friday to 15 deaths, including a 5-year-old Ukrainian child in Belgium, and caused significant disruption, with ports closed and flights canceled.
The storm, which shifted east after hitting the Atlantic coast, killed five people in Tuscany, in north-central Italy, where it caused record rainfall, local authorities announced.
“What happened last night in Tuscany has a name: climate change,” said the governor of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani. The government has declared a “state of emergency” for this region, in order to deploy exceptional financial and material resources to respond to the crisis.
Initial state aid of five million euros was approved by the Council of Ministers, announced the head of the executive Giorgia Meloni.
In Florence, “the situation is critical”, warned mayor Dario Nardella on X during the night from Thursday to Friday. The Arno river should experience its flood peak on Friday at midday.
Falling trees caused by violent gusts of wind are the cause of several fatal accidents: two victims in Belgium – including a Ukrainian child who was playing outside in Ghent – two in France, one in the center of Madrid, one in Germany and a seventh in the Netherlands.
In Portugal, it was the strong swell caused by Ciaran on the Atlantic Ocean which led to a tragedy: three people died in the sinking of a sailboat flying the Danish flag which ran aground on a beach in the center of the country.
The storm severely disrupted rail traffic in Belgium, mainly in Flanders.
Schools closed
Maritime traffic was also interrupted for the day on Thursday in the port area of Antwerp. Brussels airport, for its part, experienced numerous delays.
In France, the two people who died were a septuagenarian who fell in Le Havre (north-west) after being hit by the shutters of his home due to violent winds, and a truck driver killed in the north of the country by the fall of a tree on his truck.
Sixteen people, including seven firefighters, were injured in the same area, one seriously. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne reported a total of 47 injured in France.
A little more than half a million homes were still without electricity Friday morning, compared to 1.2 million the day before, according to government spokesperson Olivier Véran.
Returns from vacation this weekend will be “ensured” by the railway company SNCF even if the disruptions linked to Ciaran will continue, particularly in the north of the country until Saturday, the French minister responsible for transport, Clément, said on Friday. Beaune. The circulation of regional trains in the west of France was interrupted until Friday morning.
Ciaran reached England on Thursday afternoon, where strong winds and heavy rain caused significant disruption, with maritime connections from the port of Dover suspended for a good part of the morning. Hundreds of schools have been closed.
The Channel Island of Jersey, on red alert, recorded winds of up to 160 km/h and 35 people had to stay in hotels after damage to their homes according to police.
Championship canceled
All flights have been canceled at Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney airports.
In Cornwall, in the southwest of England, more than 8,500 homes were left without electricity.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch wind cycling championships were canceled because of… the wind.
“Unfortunately the wind became stronger and stronger as the days went by, preventing us from starting the race. Everyone’s safety is our main priority,” declared the organizers, with the maximum wind speed during the race not being able to exceed 61 km. /h.
At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, around 200 flights, mainly to nearby European destinations, were canceled on Thursday. Rail and ferry traffic was also disrupted.
Extreme weather events
During a trip to Brittany, where winds were close to 200 km/h, President Emmanuel Macron on Friday praised the “well-organized” relief efforts which “made it possible to save many lives”, and pleaded for “recovery to normal life faster.
In eastern Spain, a forest fire that broke out on Thursday, fanned by violent winds, was still raging on Friday in the Valencia region, and more than 800 people had to leave their homes as the flames advanced, local authorities said.
Wind gusts of up to 120 kilometers per hour hamper the fight of the 200 firefighters mobilized against this disaster.
The storm also led to the interruption of rail traffic on Thursday between Ourense and Vigo or between A Coruña and Ferrol, in Galicia, as well as on other small lines in the regions of Cantabria, Asturias or the Basque Country.
Extreme weather events (cyclones, heatwaves, floods, droughts?) are natural phenomena. But global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity can amplify them.
bur-mcl-et-phs/cr/ib/thm/sba/ab
03/11/2023 16:12:47 – Montemurlo (Italy) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
#Storm #Ciaran #kills #disrupts #transport #Europe