Up to 58 departments were placed on orange alert for wind, snow and ice on Thursday. This Friday at 12 p.m., Météo France lifted the orange vigilance for all the departments which were still there at 10 a.m., while the Caetano storm “has now left the country”. Around twenty departments, from Manche to Doubs, still remain on yellow alert.
“Next night temperatures will drop back below zero degrees from Normandy to the North-East. There will therefore be formations of black ice due to refreezing,” warns Météo France. Near the Channel and as far as Île-de-France, “snow showers or rain and snow” could still have occurred this morning, and “causing a few more centimeters of snow”, had explained the meteorological institute.
Météo France noted on Thursday “snow depths of between 2 and 8 cm and locally 10 or even 15 cm on the lower heights, up to 20 cm or more very occasionally”.
Météo France does not foresee orange vigilance for Saturday. But a large part of France, from the English Channel to the Jura and the Bas-Rhin, still remains on yellow alert for wind and icy snow.
Traffic restrictions this Friday
The snowfall, rather unusual in the west of France, had significant consequences. School transport was interrupted Thursday in several western departments. This is still the case on Friday in Mayenne, in Sarthe and in the five Normandy departments until midday.
The Paris region, the center and the East are also affected. Seine-et-Marne has suspended public and school transport. School lines and regular bus lines are suspended until midday in the departments of Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et-Loir. In Loiret, traffic on school lines is suspended until midday. In Haut-Rhin, school buses do not take place. The prefect of Doubs also issued an order to suspend school transport from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Montbéliard urban community.
Traffic restrictions still affect heavy goods vehicles weighing 7.5 tonnes on Friday, with speeds reduced by 20 km/h and overtaking bans in places. Sections of departmental roads, and even highways, have been closed. The circulation of heavy goods vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes is prohibited on the A36 motorway in both directions between Mulhouse and Saint-Vit until 10 a.m. and on the A28 between Alençon and Le Mans.
In Île-de-France, the RN 118 is prohibited on Friday for vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes, they cannot overtake on the main axes of the region and for all vehicles, the speed is lowered by 20 km/h on the same axes.
1,750 trucks blocked on the A28 and the A36
In the Manche region, the Granville-Avranches axis was cut between Sartilly and Granville due to trucks being blocked after a heavy snow shower around 7 a.m. A section of the A28 was impassable in Orne, but the A10 has reopened near Orléans.
In Franche-Comté, 2,000 to 2,500 heavy goods vehicles were blocked on the A36 motorway (Beaune-Mulhouse), stored in rest areas or on the roadway, even if a lane was cleared to allow cars to circulate. “I strongly recommend not taking your vehicle this (Friday) morning in Doubs, it’s dangerous,” insisted Saadia Tamelikecht, chief of staff of the prefect, advising motorists not to venture onto the A36.
Traffic jams also in Orne on the A28 due to heavy goods vehicles stuck on a slope due to icy conditions. Heavy goods vehicles were circulating despite the prefectural ban order, noted the prefecture which warned: the truck drivers at fault will be fined 135 euros.
Dozens of road accidents took place on Thursday, the most serious involving a coach, four cars and a two-wheeler on Thursday evening on the A6b motorway, near L'Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne) . The biker is between life and death, while four people are in absolute emergency and 31 in relative emergency, according to the police headquarters.
Disruptions on rail lines
The disruptions also affect rail traffic this Friday. Added to this was the social movement underway at the SNCF. Trees fell on the tracks “in Normandy, Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Île-de-France”. More than 400 trees fell on the tracks, according to a railway company update at 1 p.m.
In Normandy, train traffic has resumed on the Paris-Rouen axis, but clearing work continues on the Rouen-Le Havre and Paris-Cherbourg tracks, which should be restored by the end of the afternoon .
Elsewhere, there are still disruptions in Ile-de-France on the L2 and U lines as well as in Limousin and in the Nantes region.
200,000 homes still without electricity
More than a thousand agents from the electricity network manager are working to restore power while 200,000 people were deprived of electricity according to the latest report from Enedis on Friday morning at 7 a.m. “2,600 agents” are on the ground, supported by drones and helicopters, Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher explained on BFMTV/RMC this Friday morning.
And due to bad weather, getting back to normal will take time. Enedis should “restore electricity by tomorrow evening for 90% of households and Sunday evening for all of them”, declares Agnès Pannier-Runacher, “we are doing our best”. The most affected regions are Normandy (69,000), Pays de Loire (37,000) Center-Val de Loire (22,000). Around 8,000 homes were also affected in Corsica, not because of the snow but because of the wind.
