Around 200,000 homes remain without electricity and many roads are very disrupted due to poor traffic conditions due to the Caetano storm, for which Météo-France however lifted orange vigilance on Friday at midday.
“Storm Caetano caused a first early winter episode for the season, with violent winds and snow”, underlined Météo-France at 12:00 p.m. “It still concerns Corsica and the Pyrenees this Friday. Under the influence of a descent of polar air, temperatures have fallen to levels worthy of a month of January. Temperatures are very cold, sometimes freezing, notably on snow-covered ground this Friday morning,” the organization said.
Friday midday, 51 departments, mainly in the northern half of France, remained on alert, but none was on orange alert anymore. The meteorological institute, however, warned of a “risk of slippery phenomena due to refreezing from Normandy to Franche-Comté next night”.
The storm caused numerous power outages. Friday at 7 a.m., around 200,000 customers remained without electricity, 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),” said electricity network manager Enedis. Around 8,000 homes were also affected in Corsica, not because of the snow but because of the wind.
Restrictions on road transport apply in certain areas on Friday, while SNCF traffic remains locally disrupted.
Poor traffic conditions caused numerous accidents, the most serious involving a coach, four cars and a two-wheeler 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.
– Plunge temperatures –
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.
It was the plunge in temperatures between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. that trapped many truckers.
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.
School transport was interrupted Thursday in several western departments. This was 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 were suspended until midday in the departments of Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et-Loir. In Loiret, traffic on school lines was suspended until midday. In Haut-Rhin, school buses do not take place.
– Transport disrupted –
Traffic restrictions still affect heavy goods vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes, with traffic bans or reduced speeds of 20 km/h and overtaking bans in certain locations. Sections of departmental roads, and even highways, have been closed.
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 7:00 a.m. A section of the A28 was impassable in Orne, but the A10 has reopened near Orléans.
In Ile-de-France, the RN 118 is prohibited for vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes. They cannot overtake on the main roads in the region. For all vehicles, the speed is lowered by 20 km/h on the same axes.
The disruptions also affected rail traffic, with more than 400 trees falling on the tracks, according to an SCNF update at 1:00 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.
