Part of north-west Europe – passing through the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and France – was preparing during the night from Wednesday to Thursday to face the rain and violent winds of the storm Ciaran.
This powerful autumn storm could involve gusts of up to 170 km/h in places associated with heavy rain, as well as waves of ten meters.
The alerts particularly concern a large north-western quarter of France, the Belgian coasts, as well as the south-western tip of England and the tip of Wales in the United Kingdom.
AFP
From Wednesday midnight and until Thursday morning, three French coastal departments of Brittany and Normandy will be placed on wind red vigilance, i.e. the maximum alert level, Météo-France announced.
The two Breton departments (Finistère and Côtes-d’Armor) are also placed on orange alert for “rain-flooding” and “waves-submersion”.
Ciaran should hit the tip of the Breton peninsula with gusts of 130 to 150 km/h on the coast, François Gourand, forecaster at Météo-France, explained on Tuesday.
In the second part of the night, we will observe the second phase of the storm, “the strongest”, mainly over Brittany and Normandy, he indicated, estimating that the gusts could then reach 170 km/h on the capes. the most exposed.
AFP
Atlantic: 10 meter waves
In total, seventeen French departments – also in the southwest and north of Paris – will be placed on orange alert for waves-submersion, wind or rain-flooding.
Waves of eight to ten meters “are expected on the French Atlantic coast”, warned the maritime prefecture.
AFP
The arrival of this powerful storm led the French railway company SNCF to announce the interruption of regional train traffic and the shutdown of several TGV (high-speed train) lines.
In the United Kingdom, orange alerts for strong winds mainly concern the south: the southwest tip of England and the tip of Wales as well as the rest of the Channel coast. They run from the middle of the night from Wednesday to Thursday, until Thursday evening, with winds between 100 and 135 km/h.
Significant rainfall is also expected over two days in the north-east of England, as far as Scotland, and the east of Northern Ireland, already hit by flooding.
United Kingdom: soils already saturated
The British Met Office forecaster predicts up to 80 mm of precipitation in places. “This rain will fall on already saturated ground, leading to the risk of flooding,” chief meteorologist Dan Suri of the Met Office said in a statement.
Around 12,000 sandbags have been deployed across eastern Northern Ireland due to flooding, which has already led to the cutting of a railway line and 800 calls to emergency services.
The Channel Island of Jersey has meanwhile issued a red alert, with expected large waves risking flooding at high tide on Thursday morning, according to Jersey Met.
The United Kingdom was already hit ten days ago by storm Babet, which left five people dead and caused significant flooding, affecting thousands of homes.
In Belgium, the Royal Meteorological Institute issued an “orange” alert on the Flemish coast and “yellow” for the rest of the country, due to the intense winds expected on Thursday, which could reach up to 110 km/h.
Several cities – Antwerp, Brussels and even Liège – have announced the preventive closure of their green spaces from late Wednesday afternoon as well as all day Thursday due to the strong gusts forecast.
In the Netherlands, the weather service limited the alert to “yellow” for Thursday. The Dutch automobile association has advised people to work at home to avoid traffic jams, while some schools will close their doors.