With violent gusts sweeping away roofs and trees and spectacular waves on the coasts, storm Eunice, which hit the United Kingdom on Friday February 18 before reaching the continent, killed at least seven people and created major disturbances.

Hundreds of flights, trains and ferries have been canceled across North West Europe in the face of extremely strong winds caused by Eunice, which swept through less than 48 hours after Storm Dudley, which took its toll on the continent is at least five dead.

Two people - including one in a car - were killed according to Dutch emergency services by falling trees as Eunice passed through the Netherlands, which triggered its highest level of alert.

In Ireland, the first country affected, a 60-year-old man died in the same circumstances in the south-east of the country, according to the police.

In Belgium, a 79-year-old Canadian who lived on a boat in the marina of Ypres (west) died after falling into the water trying to recover objects that had flown away, local police reported at AFP.

In England, a gust of 196 km / h was recorded on the Isle of Wight, unheard of, while others were measured at more than 110 km / h inland, including at London Heathrow airport .   

Flood risk

Millions of Britons have been called to stay at home by the UK Meteorological Service, which had issued a red alert level – the highest – over south-west England, south Wales, but also for the South East, including London.

The streets of the capital, for the first time at this alert level since the system was put in place in 2011, were unusually quiet, while part of the canvas covering the O2 Arena, where concerts and sports competitions, was torn apart by the gusts.

🇬🇧 [ United Kingdom ] #Eunice 🔴#StormEunice ⚠️ Gusts of +100km/h are blowing over London at the moment.

Winds tear off the roof of the Millennium Dome (O2 Arena)



Video 📹 Ben Hubbardpic.twitter.com/ZHWWTVHMn9

— Alexandre (@alex_le_bars) February 18, 2022

According to Dutch media, part of the roof of the football stadium in The Hague was torn off.

Nearly 140,000 homes were without power in the afternoon in the southwest of England and Wales, according to the network operator.

Strong gusts of wind coupled with ongoing high tides raise fears of flooding, especially as heavy rains are expected for Saturday.

Cross-Channel ferry traffic was interrupted before an expected resumption at the end of the day, according to the P&O company.

More than 400 flights have been canceled at UK airports, according to specialist company Cirium.

Airline KLM has canceled more than 200 flights from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

Waves exceeding nine meters in Brittany

In France, nearly 130,000 homes were without electricity on Friday at 5 p.m., mainly in Hauts-de-France, network manager Enedis announced in a press release.

In detail, 119,000 homes have no power in Hauts-de-France, while Normandy has 10,000 homes affected.

This is an improvement in the situation, specifies the manager, since 160,000 households were without electricity for a time, "at the height of the episode".

"700 technicians are mobilized in the field to establish the necessary diagnoses and resupply customers as quickly as possible," added Enedis.

In Brittany, waves sometimes exceeding nine meters have been recorded, according to Météo France, as well as gusts of wind locally reaching 176 km / h at Cape Gris-Nez, according to the private tornado observatory Keraunos.

SNCF has announced disruptions on its regional lines.

Rail traffic was also very disrupted in Belgium, where many schools shortened the day, in northern Germany and in the Netherlands.

Eunice is descending on northern Europe after that continent has already been battered by storms in recent days, with Dudley killing five in Poland and Germany on Thursday.

While climate change generally reinforces and multiplies extreme events, it is not so clear for winds and storms (excluding cyclones), the number of which varies greatly from one year to another.

The latest report from UN climate experts (IPCC) released in August estimates, with only a very low degree of certainty, that there may have been an increase in the number of storms in the Northern Hemisphere since the 1980s.

With AFP

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