2023-11-02 11:52:02
PARIS (AP) — Winds of up to 180 kilometers per hour (108 mph) battered France’s Atlantic coast overnight as Storm Ciaran swept through Western Europe on Thursday, uprooting trees, blowing out windows and leaving 1.2 million French homes homeless. electricity.
Southern England and the Channel Islands also experienced heavy rain and winds, with gusts exceeding 160 km/h (100 mph). Hundreds of schools remained closed on Thursday in the coastal communities of Cornwall and Devon, while fallen trees and flooding made traffic difficult in the morning.
Flights were canceled from airports on the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. The Dutch airline KLM canceled all its routes departing and arriving in Holland from early afternoon until the end of the day due to the intensity of the sustained winds and the strongest gusts expected in the country.
In France, one death related to the storm has been confirmed. A truck driver died after his vehicle was hit by a tree in the inland Aisne region of northern France, according to Transport Minister Clement Beaune.
Almost all the coasts of mainland France were under a severe weather alert on Thursday morning, from Calais in the English Channel to the border with Spain, as well as much of the French Mediterranean coast and Corsica, it said. the national meteorological service, Météo-France.
According to the agency, record winds of 180 km/h (108 mph) were recorded along the coast of the Brittany region. The wind reached 160 km/h (96 mph) on the Normandy coast and 150 km/h (90 mph) inland. Waves almost 10 meters (33 feet) high are expected in the far northwest of the country.
In the United Kingdom, government transport agencies advised residents in some areas of southern England to avoid traveling. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency also asked the population not to approach the coast.
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Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley in Paris, Danica Kirka in London and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
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