Europe 1 with AFP 9:31 p.m., February 19, 2022
At 7 p.m. on Saturday, Enedis still counted 24,000 homes without electricity in the North of France after the passage of storm Eunice.
If the orange vigilance was lifted Friday at 7 p.m., the gales follow one another in the north of France, which again suffered strong gusts on Saturday at the end of the afternoon and must especially face Sunday evening a "gale Mark"
The North of France tried on Saturday to heal the wounds left by the passage of the violent storm Eunice, 24,000 households remaining at 7 p.m. without electricity according to Enedis, while new gales are expected.
Several thousand homes without electricity
"At 7 p.m., 85% of the 160,000 customers deprived of electricity in Nord Pas-de-Calais are resupplied", announced the Nord-Pas-de-Calais management of the electricity distribution network manager in a press release, which leaves 24,000 homes without electricity.
Friday at 4 p.m., at the height of the storm, the number of households concerned had reached 170,000 throughout Hauts-de-France, including 160,000 in Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
Enedis underlines the "exceptional" nature of the storm which swept the region on Friday, with winds at nearly 140 km / h in Calais, nearly 130 km / h in Lille, even more for certain gusts.
"The number of incidents on the electricity network is very high and their nature is complex: broken wires, trees fallen on the lines, broken poles", notes the operator, adding that "a third storm (...) begins currently and complicates our interventions".
Site crane on the ground in Saint-André-lez-Lille, partially collapsed roof of the police station in Barlin, roof of the town hall of Arras damaged, countless branches torn and trees uprooted: Eunice left significant material damage in Nord and Pas-de-Calais and injured about thirty people, affected by falling objects, victims of falls or caught in road accidents caused by high winds.
Gusts at 120 km/h
If the orange vigilance was lifted Friday at 7 p.m., the gales follow one another in the north of France, which again suffered strong gusts on Saturday at the end of the afternoon and must especially face Sunday evening a "gale marked", according to Météo France.
The gusts will then be able to reach "very locally 120 km / h in the Hauts de France, then towards the Ardennes", on trees and infrastructures already weakened by Eunice.
After a virtual paralysis of transport on Friday afternoon, air traffic resumed normally on Saturday morning at Lille-Lesquin airport, as did the movement of ferries to England, but on the TER, the recovery was "very gradual" Saturday afternoon, with a recovery announced only "at the end of the day" for the Saint-Pol-Etaples line, the SNCF reporting "a lot of damage".