Storm Dennis hits the UK and France

Torrential rain, strong winds: the storm Dennis swept across Europe on Sunday, February 16, starting with the United Kingdom, grounding hundreds of planes while rescue evacuated residents of South Wales, placed in red alert for "danger of death". In France, around 60,000 homes are without electricity on Sunday evening.

In the United Kingdom, a disturbing record has been set, that of "the highest number of flood warnings and warnings in progress ever recorded in England to date". The quote comes from a tweet from a director of the Environmental Agency (EA) who counted 594 alerts in an area from the south of Scotland to Cornwall (south-west of England).

BREAKING: we now have the most flood warnings and alerts in force (594) in England than any other day on record. Stay safe and updated here https://t.co/K5GUW3z87V pic.twitter.com/0IEdWBAOpi

The British Meteorological Institute (MET) issued a red alert in South Wales on Sunday morning due to heavy rains linked to Dennis. A first for rains since December 2015.

This highest level of alert is equivalent to "dangerous weather conditions" presenting "a danger of death", risks of disruption in energy supply and damage to infrastructure.

Numerous evacuations are underway in this region, where a man in his sixties was found dead after "entering the river", but whose death is not considered to be "suspect or linked to the weather" , according to a police statement.

"We urge people to be careful and make arrangements to be safe," said Jeremy Parr, the flood risk management officer for the Welsh government body responsible for natural resources.

Several hundred flights to and from the whole of the United Kingdom are grounded, announced the British Airways and EasyJet companies.

Train traffic has also been suspended in South Wales due to the presence of water on the tracks. In the same region, the city of Aberdaron suffered winds of more than 145 km / h and, at the Cray Reservoir dam, 132.8 mm of rain fell between Saturday morning 7:00 am and Sunday morning 8:00 am. The equivalent of more than a month of local precipitation (110.8 mm on average in February), explained the MET on its website.

A person who has appeared

Two other bodies had already been recovered very early Saturday morning off the south coast of England, in rough seas, at the start of the storm. It is still unclear whether the circumstances in which these deaths occurred are related to Storm Dennis.

Brighton police said they were actively looking for a woman in her 20s who was spotted entering the water around 2:45 a.m.

On Saturday, the Department of Defense deployed the army to West Yorkshire, an area in the north of England hard hit the weekend before by floods from the Ciara storm.

Several sports competitions scheduled for Sunday, including the Women's FA Cup, rugby matches and horse races, have been canceled.

Monday will be another windy day across the UK due to #StormDennis, especially in the west where a ⚠️ Yellow Wind Warning is in force ⚠️

Stay #WeatherAware pic.twitter.com/S6sZRTKJPM

The situation was expected to remain complex Sunday afternoon in the southern parts of the United Kingdom, where "heavy and persistent rains will move slowly east," Met said on its Twitter account, forecasting "everywhere else a mix of sunshine and heavy downpours ", with" very windy "episodes in the north and west.

"The storm is set to continue and the water is expected to reach its maximum on Monday and Tuesday," said the British Red Cross, asking "people to be ready as if the worst is to happen."

In France, 60,000 households without electricity

Dennis also touched France on Sunday, about 60,000 homes were without electricity Sunday in the early evening in the northwest quarter of the country after the passage of the storm "Dennis", we learned from Enedis , while no longer any department was placed in orange vigilance by Météo-France.

About 60,000 homes were deprived of electricity Sunday in the early evening in the northwest quarter of the country after the passage of the storm "Dennis", we learned from Enedis, while no more department was placed in orange alert by Météo-France.

The homes without current are "mainly in Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Normandy", told AFP a spokesperson for the manager of the electricity distribution network, after a situation report made at 6:00 p.m.

Thus, in Brittany, 18,000 homes were plunged into darkness: 7,000 homes in Ille-et-Vilaine, 4,500 in Finistère and in Morbihan as well as 2,500 in Côtes-d'Armor, according to an update at 4.30 p.m.

#denis The wind is blowing, blowing, blowing and our 450 employees and service providers have been mobilized in the field for several hours already to refuel the 10,000 Breton households without electricity: 4,500 in 29, 2,500 in 35, 2,000 in 56, 1,000 in 22 pic.twitter.com/XpFurbAQrI

"Reinforcements from Enedis Picardie and Poitou-Charentes also come to lend a hand in Brittany," said a spokeswoman for Enedis Brittany at AFP. Around noon, around 10,000 homes were without electricity in Brittany. According to the regional communication from Enedis, 450 agents are mobilized on the ground to restore the current.

With AFP

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