Snow fell heavily this Thursday, November 21 in Orne and Calvados. The two departments are still placed this evening in orange “snow-ice” alert by Météo France. We take stock of the situation at 8 p.m.
School transport
Suspended today, school and commercial transport lines will also not run tomorrow morning in the five Normandy departments until 12 p.m., due to icy conditions. The Region indicates that it “will do everything possible to ensure, tomorrow afternoon, a partial resumption of school lines so as to allow boarding students to return home.“Regarding commercial lines, a partial recovery is also hoped for in the afternoon.
Bus networks
In the Caen area, no Twisto bus is running this Thursday evening since the snow returned at 4 p.m. On the other hand, the trams continue to run. Tomorrow, Friday November 22, lines 12, 12 express, 22, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37 and 40 will not run as will school lines 100 to 138.
In Orne, in Alençon, Alto buses were not running this afternoon. A decision will be made overnight to know whether or not the lines will still be suspended tomorrow.
Power outages
Environ 90,000 people are currently without power in Normandyincluding 36,500 in Orne, and 26,500 in Calvados. The Enedis teams are mobilized but the snow made on-site interventions complicated this afternoon.
Update on the roads
Sectors to avoid in Orne:
Trees lying on the roads, snowdrifts and several centimeters of snow on the ground: this Thursday evening, it is in Orne that the situation is the most complicated after the passage of storm Caetano. In the middle of the afternoon, the wind picked up, causing numerous trees to fall on several roads. Overwhelmed, the department's services had to call on private companies and farmers to clear the roads. An operation is underway, for example, this evening in Saint-Christophe-le-Jajolet near Argentan where several vehicles remained blocked. The Carrouges sector and the Etouve forest are also very impacted with roads closed to traffic.
The A28 motorway is at this time impassable in both directions near Gacé.
Sectors to avoid in Calvados:
In Calvados, traffic remains difficult in the south of the department, towards Falaise, Villers-Bocage, Vire and Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives. There too, trees fell and snowdrifts formed on the road. The North West Roads Department indicates that some main roads are still being cleared. The secondary roads of the network cannot be cleared of snow until tomorrow morning. Some motorists stuck on the roads are taken care of by the nearest municipalities.
In the Channel, the A84 motorway is also cut towards Gouvet in both directions. Several accidents occurred in the afternoon, particularly due to heavy goods vehicles in difficulty. However, they were not allowed to travel on the roads of our two departments. This ban is still in effect this evening.
