Europe 1 with AFP 06:22, 02 November 2023, modified at 06:23, 02 November 2023

Three departments in the north-west have gradually entered red alert since midnight to face storm Ciaran which reached the tip of Brittany in the evening, inflicting its first damage and causing a slight injury. Follow our livestream.

Storm Ciaran, which hit western Brittany and then the Cotentin during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, with record wind gusts, will start to slide towards the west of the Pays de la Loire and sink deeper into Normandy.

One slightly injured in Finistère

Only limited damage has been reported so far and one minor injury is to be deplored in Finistère, in Plouédern, following a traffic accident caused by a falling tree, the prefecture said.

Three departments in the north-west have gradually entered a red wind alert since midnight: Finistère at midnight, Côtes d'Armor at 2:00 a.m., then Manche an hour later. But in its bulletin published shortly before 3:30 am, Météo France warns that a new strengthening of the wind is expected in the second part of the night on the departments in red vigilance with very powerful gusts.

Numerous tree falls have led to the temporary closure of some major roads, including the RN12 in the Côtes d'Armor, and the RN165 in Morbihan. Power cuts have also been reported in several departments, including Finistère, Morbihan and Manche.

Exceptional gusts

In Finistère, Météo-France recorded around 3am 193 km / h in Plougonvelin, where the tip Saint-Mathieu is located, 171 km / h in Lanvéoc, in the Crozon peninsula, and 156 km / h in Brest. "The gusts of wind are exceptional on Brittany and many absolute records are broken" locally, says Météo-France on X (formerly Twitter).

In Morbihan, the prefecture said gusts reached 164 km/h on the island of Groix, 152 km/h on Belle-Ile and 147 km/h on Lorient.

"Gusts of more than 100 km/h extend from the Vendée to the west of Calvados via the Sarthe. On the stations of the Atlantic arc and the west coast of the Manche department, gusts around 150 to 170 km / h or even more on the semaphores exposed, "says Météo-France.

31 departments placed on orange alert for waves-submersion

The orange vigilance "waves-submersions" is now activated for the coasts of Finistère, Morbihan, Loire-Atlantique and Vendée, says Météo-France. Waves of eight to ten metres are expected on part of the Atlantic coast.

According to Ouest-France, planes in difficulty over Nantes airport in the evening due to winds were finally diverted to Toulouse.

Emmanuel Macron joined the many messages from the authorities on Wednesday evening urging caution in the face of this climatic event. "Don't take any chances. Stay home and check in with your loved ones who are isolated," he wrote on social media.

The number of departments placed on orange alert, for waves-submersion, wind or rain-flooding, is 31. Among the new departments classified in orange are part of the Ile-de-France, including Paris, for strong winds.

The entire coastline from Pas-de-Calais to the Pyrénées-Atlantique is now on orange wave-submersion alert for Thursday, as well as the Bouches-du-Rhône, the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes. South Corsica is also on orange alert for thunderstorms as well as rain-flooding.

Ban on the circulation of heavy goods vehicles

Almost everywhere along the coast, calls for caution, especially for walkers and boaters, have multiplied. These submersion waves are particularly devastating on the coast, where unwary walkers are regularly swept away.

Due in part to the risk of falling trees due to strong winds, the transport sector will operate at a slower pace on Thursday in the west of the country. "On the road front, we have taken measures via the prefectures to ban the circulation of heavy goods vehicles (...) This will continue during the day on Thursday, particularly throughout the Brittany region," said the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune. The Ministry of the Interior then specified that Ille-et-Vilaine, on orange alert, was not concerned by this traffic ban.

Some disruptions on the SNCF network

The SNCF announced on Thursday morning that it planned "preventive stops of rail traffic" on part of the RER A, several lines of the Transilien (L, J, U and partially N) and the T13 tram. The airports of Brest and Quimper, in particular, "will not be in service between the end of the afternoon and at least tomorrow morning," he added. For trains, TER traffic in Brittany, Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Pays de la Loire and Centre Val de Loire will be interrupted from Wednesday evening to Friday morning. As for the TGVs, while 90% of them are expected to run, traffic will be interrupted on the Paris-Le Mans and Paris-Nantes axes.

In addition to the winds, Météo-France is worried about a "rainy episode giving significant amounts of precipitation in a short time on already saturated soils", including possible falls of trees still very leafy.

Extreme weather events (cyclones, heat waves, floods, droughts, etc.) are natural phenomena. But global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity can amplify them. More specifically, the phenomena of waves-submersion on the coasts are likely to become more dangerous with the rise in sea level linked to the melting of the ice, especially during storms.