Around 270,000 people were without electricity on Thursday evening due to winter storm Caetano, which caused transport difficulties and is moving towards the east of the country.
Although the snowfall, which is rather unusual in the west of France, has decreased significantly, it has had significant consequences.
At 6:00 p.m., “270,000 customers are deprived of power, particularly in Normandy (90,000), in the Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire (61,500) and in Centre-Val de Loire (27,000)”, detailed Enedis, main manager of the electricity network in France . The public group indicated that it had mobilized 1,400 agents to restore the situation as quickly as possible.
On Friday, 31 departments will still be placed on orange alert for snow, ice and wind, compared to around fifty on Thursday, Météo-France reported. The two departments of Corsica should experience an “episode of very strong winds (…) until midday”.
The twenty-nine departments affected by snow and ice range from Normandy to Haut-Rhin, via Ile-de-France. There could be a “high risk of a sliding phenomenon due to refreezing over a large part of the northern half of the country”, warned Météo-France.
In Haute-Saône, minimum temperatures could fall between -8 and -9°C in places, with a risk of refreezing and “in the morning, dangerous road phenomena”, warned the prefecture.
– School bus service interrupted –
School transport was interrupted Thursday in several western departments. This will still be the case on Friday in Mayenne and in the five Normandy departments until midday.
The Paris region, the center and the East will also be affected. Seine-et-Marne will suspend public and school transport. School lines and regular bus lines will be suspended until 12:00 p.m. in the departments of Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et-Loir. In Loiret, traffic on school lines will be suspended until 12:00 p.m. In Haut-Rhin, school buses will not take place.
Traffic restrictions affected heavy goods vehicles weighing 7.5 tonnes on Thursday, with speeds reduced by 20 km/h and overtaking bans in places. Sections of departmental roads, and even highways, have been closed.
Traffic restrictions are “maintained until further notice”, said the Mayenne prefecture.
The Saint-Nazaire bridge, which had been closed to traffic, reopened late Thursday afternoon.
In Manche, one seriously injured in a public road accident has been reported.
The disruptions also affected trains, for example in Loire-Atlantique or Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Added to this was the social movement underway at the SNCF.
The storm also caused significant delays at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, where the authorities asked companies to cancel 10% of their flights.
Against the backdrop of a snowy episode “more intense than initially expected”, the ADP group teams “are mobilized to clear snow from runways and de-ice planes, and ensure the safety of flights and passengers, which slows down operations” , assured AFP a spokesperson for the installation manager.
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