Some 75,000 customers are without electricity on Monday morning January 16, particularly in Normandy, Brittany and the Pays de la Loire, according to the network manager Enedis, due to high winds. 

The Gérard storm has been sweeping the north and west of France since Sunday evening with particularly violent winds.

"The episode, still in progress, is particularly intense with winds of more than 110 km / h. The situation may change," added Enedis in a press release.

According to Météo France, the wind blew up to 158 km / h at the Pointe du Raz, in Finistère.

As the storm heads towards Île-de-France, the meteorological service placed the entire region under orange vigilance on Monday, with the exception of the Val-d'Oise department, as well as the departments of Loiret, 'Yonne, Aube and Marne.

Orange vigilance has been lifted for Finistère, Morbihan, Indre-et-Loire, Indre, Loir-et-Cher, Maine-et-Loire and Cher, and maintained for Mayenne and Sarthe .

For its part, the SNCF reported some traffic difficulties because of trees that had fallen on the tracks, in particular in the Pays de la Loire, in Île-de-France and in Normandy, where certain trains "did not leave this morning" the time to check the state of the tracks, explained a spokesperson to AFP.

Train traffic is disrupted in particular on the axis linking La Rochelle, La Roche-sur-Yon, Nantes, Rennes and Saint-Malo as well as around Le Havre.

Traffic is also interrupted between Rennes and Saint-Malo due to the fall of a tree.

Due to the orange alert for strong winds decreed by Météo France, the SNCF decided early Sunday evening to interrupt passenger train traffic on several lines in Normandy on Monday morning.

This concerned, among other things, the Le Havre-Rouen, Caen-Rouen, Rouen-Le Mans and Caen-Rennes lines.

The Rouen-Paris line was not affected.

“Scout trains” were to pass in the morning on the tracks concerned to identify any damage.

Gusts up to 140 km / h on the coast

Météo-France placed 26 departments on orange vigilance on Monday, including 23 for “strong” winds, two (Cantal and Lozère) for snow-ice and one (Corse-du-Sud) for crus.

The windy episode will circulate until the beginning of the afternoon from Normandy towards the south of Ile-de-France and the north of Centre-Val-de-Loire then the extreme west of the Grand-Est and Burgundy-Franche Comte.

The strongest gusts will be observed in western Normandy, with up to 120/140 km / h on the coast, and 100 to 110 km / h inland, sometimes more, according to Météo-France.

The manager of the electrical network calls on the population never to touch electrical wires that have fallen on the ground, or any object in contact with lines, and to report any problem by calling 09 726 750 followed by the two digits of the department concerned.

With AFP and Reuters

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