PARIS (AP) — Recording-breaking winds in France and across much of Western Europe left at least five people dead and injured several others as Storm Ciarán swept through the continent overnight and into Thursday, plunging vast numbers into darkness, devastating homes and causing travel mayhem in several countries.
Winds of more than 118 mph slammed the northern tip of France’s Atlantic coast, uprooting trees and blowing out windows.
A truck driver was killed when his vehicle was hit by a tree in northern France’s inland Aisne region, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said. Another person has been badly injured at a university in the northern city of Roubaix, and 15 other people were hurt around western and northern France, authorities announced. Seven of the injured were emergency workers.
Dutch airline KLM scrapped all flights leaving and arriving in the Netherlands from the early afternoon until the end of the day, citing the high sustained wind speeds and powerful gusts expected in the country.
Huge waves slammed into French ports and shorelines, as wind flattened street signs and ripped off roofing. Felled trees blocked roads around western France, according to Associated Press reporters and images on French media and social networks.
About 1.2 million French households were left without electricity on Thursday, electrical utility Enedis said in a statement. That includes about half of the homes in Brittany, the Atlantic peninsula hardest hit by Ciarán. Enedis said it would deploy 3,000 workers to restore power when conditions allowed.
Local trains were canceled across a swath of western France, and all roads in the Finistère region of Brittany were closed. Thursday morning. Beaune urged people to avoid driving and exercise caution when traveling across areas with weather warnings.
‘’We see how roads can be fatal in these circumstances,’’ he told broadcaster France-Info.
In Spain, where the storm battered much of the country with heavy rains and gale force winds, emergency services in Madrid said a woman died Thursday after a tree fell on her. Three other people were slightly injured in the incident on a city center street. Parks in the capital and other cities in Spain were closed, and several trains and flights were canceled.
One person died in central Ghent, Belgium, when a tree fell on them in a park. Another person was injured during the same incident. Local and national authorities warned residents not to get close to green spaces for fear of falling trees. Belgian media also reported that in the port city of Antwerp, one man was seriously injured when a wall collapsed under the pressure from the relentless high winds.
A storm warning was issued for the North Sea coast in Germany, and a warning of high winds for part of the Baltic Sea coast. Authorities said that a 46-year-old woman was fatally injured by a falling tree in the Harz mountains in northern Germany.
Thousands were also without power in the United Kingdom. Sharp gusts blew roofs off buildings and toppled trees. Some had to evacuate their homes and seek refuge in hotels as Ciarán pummeled the south of England.
Hundreds of schools stayed closed in the southwest England coastal communities of Cornwall and Devon, as downed trees and flooding hindered morning commutes all across the southeast.
Rail companies urged commuters to work from home if possible because of possible falling trees and debris on the tracks. P&O Ferries said tourist traffic was being sent away from the Port of Dover, which has suspended sailings. The roof of a lorry was torn off in the town, local police said, while a major road has been partly closed for public safety.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency urged people to keep away from the coast.
