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the long wait for electricity after the Caetano storm

I woke up cold after a night without electricity, Friday November 22. The storm in Catore hundreds of cables in its path, depriving thousands of homes in -Atlantique of electricity. At dawn, residents without power opened the shutters in cooled rooms. “15°C in the bedroom and living room, 13°C in the bathroom. Not hot. Especially when you can't prepare anything hot.”commented Maxime, who lives in Saint-Lyphard, completely cut off from the electricity network.

23,500 homes were still without power in the early morning, while 400 Enedis technicians were on duty to intervene in the most affected areas. A race against time to restore electricity to individuals but also to businesses and traders.

“We didn't sleep all night. reports Stéphane Spadaro, manager of the Proxi à Paulx. The outage happened around 3 p.m. Thursday. We had to close the store and we lost the food in the butchery and charcuterie section. » What was not on the shelf, he took to a cold room at his home in Machecoul. “And a friend lent me a generator. We're not doing too badly with perhaps a €1,000 loss. We will be able to open on Saturday, at 9 a.m., thanks to the whole team. » Paulx regained power Friday noon.

Read also: In Loire-Atlantique, storm Caetano hit hard: injuries and extensive damage

Before intervening in the air, the technicians secure the wires to ground. | FRANCK DUBRAY / WEST
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Before intervening in the air, the technicians secure the wires to ground. | FRANCK DUBRAY / WEST FRANCE

Enedis focused first on securing sites where cables were down, “which could have delayed the recovery operations, since we could not do it the previous night”, explains the communications department. The technicians prioritized the repair of medium voltage lines to restore areas of greater density. Low voltage lines, in more isolated areas, had to be taken into account in a second step, which required additional patience.

Enedis evokes “90% recovery this Saturday”. And always urge caution to never touch a grounded wire and dial 09 726 750 + XX (department number) for emergency cases.

France

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