The most important thing we will remember from the passage of the Caétano storm is that there were no serious injuries, in fact no life-threatening injuries. Fabrice Rigoulet-Roze, prefect of Loire-Atlantique, told France Bleu Loire Océan at 6 p.m. that following bad weather, ten people were taken to hospital. Mostly for minor injuries. However, a man was seriously injured when a tree fell on his car on Route de Saint-Joseph in Nantes.
Black Thursday at stations and on certain roads
What stood out was this afternoon and this nightmarish evening on certain roads. From 2 p.m., the Saint-Nazaire and Cheviré bridges, in Nantes, were cut off to traffic due to gusts exceeding 120 km/h. In Nantes, the closure of the Cheviré bridge was added to that for months of the Anne-de-Bretagne bridge for works, with saturated roads in the center of Nantes, but also on the ring road and its surroundings.
On the rails too, quite a mess : for several hours, no traffic from Nantes station. A catenary fell due to a falling tree. Traffic started slowly again around 7 p.m.. Delays of 2, 3, 4 hours were announced on certain trains. The SNCF specified this Thursday evening that the TER trains between Nantes/Pornic and Nantes/Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie will not be able to run until Friday noon. Same thing between Nort-sur-Erdre and Châteaubriant.
At 8 p.m., still 46,500 homes without power in Vendée and Loire-Atlantique
Concerning power cuts, at 8 p.m., Enedis still announces 33,500 homes without power in Loire-Atlantique (mainly the coast: Pornic, Saint-Nazaire, Guérande); 13,000 in Vendée. In the event of an emergency linked to Enedis, you must contact 09 726 750 44.
The firefighters, for their part, carried out more than 400 interventions in our two departments: branches on the roads, houses, objects threatening to fall, flooded basements. Eight public colleges in Loire-Atlantique are dealing with damage, but classes will take place this Friday, assures the departmental council. In Pontchâteau, “the roof of the Frida-Kahlo college flew off”, depending on the prefecture.
Météo France's “orange” alert for strong winds was lifted this Thursday at 7 p.m.
