Uprooted trees, torn roofs, lying heavy goods vehicles: in the north and north-west of France, storm Eunice caused three serious injuries on Friday, and significant material damage, also disrupting all transport.
In the North, firefighters deplored in the middle of the afternoon 17 minor and three serious injuries, two affected by falling materials on the public highway and one caught in a road accident following the overturning of a heavy weight by the wind. . In Pas-de-Calais, eight people were slightly injured according to the prefecture.
One of Lille’s two stations was closed in the middle of the afternoon following material falling on the glass roof, firefighters said, and the TGVs were redirected to the other station.
Lille-Lesquin airport diverted flights to other airports during the afternoon. Some were to resume in the evening, before a return to normal expected on Saturday.
Passengers on a flight from Toulouse also remained stuck in the aircraft for several hours.
– “Very impressive” –
Five departments of Hauts-de-France and Normandy (Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Manche and Seine-Maritime) were placed on orange alert to strong winds until 7:00 p.m. The Pont de Normandie was closed as a precaution and regional train traffic suspended from noon.
Across Hauts-de-France, the operator Enedis has identified 170,000 homes without electricity at 4:00 p.m.
Ferry traffic with the United Kingdom was also “suspended by the companies” in the morning, according to the captaincy of the port of Calais.
Buses and trams were at a standstill in Lille, where metro traffic was disrupted.
In Wimereux, in Pas-de-Calais, waves 4 to 5 meters high licked facades on the seafront, noted an AFP journalist.
“It’s very impressive,” said Philippe Boucher, a retiree who came to admire the waves, before being pushed back by the municipal police.
As in Wimereux, access to the beach was prohibited in the seaside resort of Le Touquet and several coastal towns.
– The episode “on its end” –
“Strong waves, around 5m50 on average” with “up to 9m20 in maximum height”, were observed at the Pierres Noires buoy off Finistère, said Météo France.
The orange alert for marine submersion was however lifted at 4:00 p.m.
Météo France estimated shortly before 6 p.m. that the episode was “at its end”, but “a new strengthening of the winds is expected, with gusts at 100 to 120 km / h, until the first part of the night on the coasts of the Channel, from Cotentin to the Bay of Somme and Boulonnais”, she warned.
Parks and gardens have been closed in many localities, and the prefectures had called for limiting risky activities and for information before any travel.
The circulation of the TER connecting Paris to Amiens, Saint-Quentin, Beauvais and Laon, has been maintained, as well as that of the TGV between Paris and Lille or Calais.
The estimated resumption of traffic throughout the impacted area is expected on Saturday, according to the SCNF.
Losc, which plays in Ligue 1 against Metz on Friday evening, for its part announced that the players would “exceptionally” not arrive in public on the forecourt of the stadium, and called on supporters to go directly to the sports arena.
According to Météo-France, the wind values are however “not exceptional” for the season.
The storm, which put the UK on high alert, killed two people in the Netherlands.
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