24 departments still on orange alert for snow, ice and wind, transport remains disrupted

Accident « grave » in Val-de-Marne, truckers stuck on the highway, trains canceled, school buses suspended… If the winter storm Caetano “has now left the country”according to Météo-France on Friday November 22, it caused chaos in transport and the weather organization warns of a risk of refreezing “very clear” et “well in place” where the snow fell the day before. Restrictions on road transport still apply in certain areas on Friday while SNCF traffic remains locally disrupted.

Five people were in absolute emergency following an accident « grave » Thursday evening on the A6B motorway near the town of Chevilly-Larue (Val-de-Marne) between a bus, four cars and a two-wheeler, Agence France-Presse learned Friday from the prefecture and firefighters. This event is “directly linked to degraded weather conditions”declared a police source to AFP. According to firefighters and the Val-de-Marne prefecture, 31 people were slightly injured and were in relative emergency.

As of 7 a.m. Friday, around 200,000 customers remained without power, compared to 270,000 on Thursday. “The most affected regions are Normandy (69,000), Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire (37,000), Centre-Val de Loire (22,000)”specifies the network manager Enedis.

In Franche-Comté, 2,000 to 2,500 heavy goods vehicles are blocked on the A36 motorway (Beaune-Mulhouse), stopped at rest areas or on the roadway, even if a lane has been cleared to allow cars to circulate.

Accidents also took place near Orléans, Vinci Autoroutes reported. On the A10, “an accident between two heavy goods vehicles makes it impossible to drive northwards, between Meung-sur-Loire [Loiret] and Orleans »specifies the manager.

Dozens of road accidents

In Loire-Atlantique, firefighters intervened around 300 times during the storm, which caused 13 minor injuries in the department.

On Friday, 24 departments from Calvados to Haut-Rhin were still placed on orange alert for snow, ice and wind, compared to around fifty on Thursday, Météo-France announced. There may be a “high risk of sliding phenomenon due to refreezing over a large part of the northern half of the country”warned the meteorological agency. The two departments of Corsica should experience a “episode of locally stormy winds (…) until late morning ».

In Haute-Saône, minimum temperatures could thus fall between − 8 and − 9 °C in places, with a risk of refreezing and “in the morning, dangerous road phenomena”warned the prefecture.

Dozens of road accidents took place on Thursday. In Manche, an accident on public roads left one seriously injured.

School transport was interrupted in several western departments. This will still be the case on Friday in Mayenne and in the five Normandy departments until midday. Collective transport of children will also be prohibited in Sarthe.

The Paris region, the center of the country and the East will also be affected. Seine-et-Marne will suspend public transport. School lines and regular bus lines will also be suspended until midday in Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et-Loir. In Loiret, traffic on school lines will be interrupted until midday. In Haut-Rhin, school buses will not take place. The prefect of Doubs has issued an order to suspend school transport from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Montbéliard area.

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 motorways have been closed. This will still be the case in Sarthe on Friday, and traffic will be prohibited on the A28 between Alençon and Le Mans in both directions.

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 (Doubs) until 10 a.m. and on the A28 between Alençon and Le Mans.

In the Channel, the Granville-Avranches axis was cut between Sartilly and Granville due to blocked trucks. A section of the A28 was impassable in Orne. Same thing on the A10 towards Orléans.

Disruptions on trains

In Ile-de-France, the RN 118 will be prohibited on Friday for vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes which will not be able to overtake on the main roads. For all vehicles, the speed is lowered by 20 kilometers/hour on the same axes.

The disruptions affected the trains. This will still be the case on Friday, said the SNCF, while trees fell on the tracks in places “in Normandy, Pays de la Loire, New Aquitaine and Ile-de-France”.

Trains will not run in Normandy until midday “time to pass the reconnaissance trains and carry out clearances and repairs”says the SNCF. In the Pays de la Loire, “there were a lot of falling trees”. “Traffic is gradually resuming in Nantes-Angers” but on the other hand, “the other lines of the Étoile de Nantes will not be able to resume until tomorrow during the day”. In New Aquitaine, recognitions will “continue tomorrow morning to ensure the possibility of resuming traffic”.

“In Ile-de-France, there are still disruptions on line P, between Tournan and Coulommiers, L2, between Garches and Marnes, C and line T13 for the entire evening”specifies the SNCF.

The storm caused significant delays at Paris – Charles-de-Gaulle airport, where authorities asked companies to cancel 10% of their flights.