The remnants of Hurricane Kirk swept into western Europe Wednesday, October 9, tearing up trees in Portugal and Spain before dumping heavy rains on France that left at least one dead. A storm swell in the Mediterranean off the port city of Sète in southern France overturned three boats, killing one amateur sailor and putting another in the hospital in critical condition, said Herault department authorities. Some 64,000 people in the south of France were also left without power, network supplier Enedis told Agence France-Presse (AFP), while several departments reported roads cut off by floodwaters.
Following a crisis response meeting in Paris, Energy and Ecological Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told journalists the government was mobilizing “all state services” and urged citizens to be careful. “These episodes will have a tendency to recur. We’re living at a time when climate change is making itself felt in concrete ways in our daily lives,” she said. Meteo France put 30 of the country’s departments on orange alert, with heavy rains and high winds expected.
Rail services interrupted
Portugal’s civil protection authority reported more than 1,300 incidents from overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, three-quarters of which involved fallen trees in the north of the country. Porto, the main northern city, was hit hardest, with 400 trees uprooted. Cars were also damaged and rail services were interrupted near Barcelos, also in the north. The storm also cut power to more than 300,000 households, said the country’s electricity supplier.
Spanish weather officials issued an orange alert for the north and northwest of the country warning of winds of up to 140 kilometres per hour in the Asturias region. Galicia, in the northwest, reported some roads blocked by mudslides and fallen trees in urban areas, but no other major damage.
