Europe 1 with AFP 21:48 p.m., December 31, 2023

All flights are cancelled at Brest airport until Tuesday noon after the control tower was struck by lightning, the airport said on its website. "Brest airport was very badly hit following the lightning strike of the control tower last night (Saturday) in particular, despite its protections. Departing and arriving flights are cancelled until Tuesday noon," according to information published late in the day on the website.

About fifteen flights were scheduled on Sunday, departing or arriving. "The equipment affected by the storm is the responsibility of the Western Air Navigation Service (ANS). Our technicians are therefore unable to intervene. The SNA doesn't have technicians on duty this weekend," said Claude Arphexad, the airport's director of operations, quoted by the daily Le Télégramme. "It's likely that they won't be able to intervene until early Tuesday. Flights will therefore only be able to resume at the end of the morning," he said.

The airport invites "passengers to contact their airlines to find out the status of their flights", specifying that "all flight arrival and departure information is updated in real time" on its website: www.brest.aeroport.bzh.

Finistère placed on orange alert

In the terminal, the departure of a traveler scheduled for late Tuesday morning for Paris, before flying to Martinique, is "uncertain". "So we're renting a car to go to Paris tomorrow," the shopkeeper, who did not give his name, told an AFP journalist. "There's nothing we can do about it, it's lightning, it's a storm (...) It's not their fault, it's the natural elements," he adds, understanding.

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The three departments of the tip of Brittany - Côtes d'Armor, Finistère and Morbihan - had been placed on orange alert the night from Saturday to Sunday by Météo France due to a strong gale from the tip of La Hague to the Spanish border. These three departments are now placed on yellow alert, like part of the metropolitan territory.

According to the prefecture of Finistère, "the windy passage that occurred" during the night of Saturday to Sunday "caused very strong gusts of wind, up to 129 km/h on the heights of the Monts d'Arrée and up to 134 km/h on the exposed capes. Lightning strikes were also recorded, causing three fires in controlled homes", and therefore affecting the control tower of Brest airport.