Storm Eunice continued to sweep across northwestern Europe on Saturday February 19, killing at least 14 people and leaving behind extensive property damage and massive power cuts.

Formed in Ireland, the storm passed Friday over part of the United Kingdom then northern France, Benelux before continuing its route towards Denmark and Germany, of which a large northern third was placed on red alert until Saturday morning.

In Germany, "more than 1,000 kilometers of railway lines were damaged", according to a spokesman for the railway company Deutsche Bahn, mainly by falling trees, partly paralyzing traffic in the north of the country .

The peak of the storm has nevertheless passed and the alert (a level three on a scale of four) from the German meteorological services has been lifted.

Hundreds of flights, trains and ferries were canceled across northwestern Europe as extreme winds from Eunice swept through less than 48 hours after Storm Dudley (at least six dead in Poland and Germany).

At this stage, 14 deaths have been recorded because of Eunice: two in Poland and Germany, four in the Netherlands, three in England, one in Ireland and two also in Belgium.

According to Ghent police, a 37-year-old man hit in the head on Friday by a solar panel that had flown away succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

Many of the deaths are due to trees falling on vehicles.

Hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity

In the Netherlands, in the capital The Hague, dozens of houses were evacuated for fear of the collapse of the bell tower of a church.

The Dutch rail network was disrupted and the Thalys Amsterdam-Brussels links interrupted, with no resumption expected on Saturday, according to a spokesperson.

In the United Kingdom, where a gust of 196 km / h was recorded on the Isle of Wight - unheard of - at least 226,000 homes remained without electricity on Saturday at midday in the country, where insurers assess the damage to more than 300 million pounds (360 million euros).

They are a million in the same situation in Poland, according to local authorities, and several rail links are suspended.

The UK Met Service had issued a red alert level - the highest - for South Wales and southern England, including London.

This is the first time that the British capital has reached this level of alert since the implementation of this system in 2011.

The fear of floods in the north of France

In the north of France, around thirty injuries were recorded, in road accidents linked to the wind or due to falling materials.

Around 37,000 homes remained without power on Saturday morning and some regional rail links were disrupted.

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

Cross-Channel ferry traffic was interrupted, hundreds of flights canceled on Friday, road and rail transport affected.

In France, waves sometimes exceeding nine meters were recorded in Brittany as well as gusts of wind locally reaching 176 km / h at Cape Gris-Nez (North).

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_FR