Hurricane Ciarán: Power outage in France

Hurricane Ciaran hit France and the United Kingdom on Thursday evening, bringing strong winds and waves. Then the autumn storm hit the Netherlands and Germany.

The authorities said that at least seven people were killed and several others were injured. A 46-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in the Harz Mountains.

The German Meteorological Service issued a storm warning for parts of the North Sea coast and a warning of strong winds for parts of the Baltic Sea coast. In Germany, the depression known internationally as “Ciaran” is called “Amir”.

The Goslar Fire Department said the storm in the Harz region was much stronger than initially expected. In North Rhine-Westphalia, trees felled by the storm caused train traffic on Thursday morning. The regions of Euskirchen, Remscheid, Mönchengladbach/Versen and Dorsten were affected.

In France, two people were killed and 15 injured, including seven firefighters. A truck driver died when he crashed into a fallen tree. In Le Havre, a man was caught by a gust of wind and fatally injured. Electricity was cut off for about 1.2 million families, and mobile phone communications were cut off for hundreds of thousands. 13,500 firefighters responded to approximately 3,500 missions. More than 1,300 people were transported to safety.

Local winds reached speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour. A storm wave 21 meters high was measured off the Finistère department in Brittany, the westernmost tip of continental France.

The storm also caused problems in the United Kingdom. The Palestinian News Agency reported that thousands of homes on the southern coast of England were temporarily cut off from electricity. Trees fell and roads were closed. Hundreds of schools remained closed. Many train operators in the greater London area have called on people to only take essential journeys.

According to police, wind speeds of up to 164 kilometers per hour were measured on the island of Jersey, located southwest of the English Channel. Jersey Police warned: “Please stay inside. It is very dangerous out there.” One woman reported about the hail: “The hailstones were heavier and larger than a golf ball and damaged three of our windows.”

Two people died in the hurricane in Belgium. In a park in the city of Ghent, a tree fell on two pedestrians, killing one of them. In another park, a five-year-old boy was killed on a playground by a violently falling tree branch, De Standaard reported. In Antwerp, a man was seriously injured by a falling roof structure.

In the Netherlands, one person was killed by a falling tree in Venray, near the border with the Lower Rhine River, police said. Falling trees injured people in several other places.

A spokesman for Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam said that hundreds of flights were canceled in the Netherlands due to the storm. Due to expected strong winds, shipping from the North Sea to Westerschelde in the southwest of the country has also been halted.

The hurricane also struck parts of the Iberian Peninsula, claiming the life of one person. Emergency services said that a young woman was killed when a tree fell in Madrid. Three other people were slightly injured. Northern Portugal and northern and central Spain were particularly affected by Ciaran. Rail and air traffic was affected.

In Madrid, the Retiro City Park, which also attracts tourists, was closed for safety reasons. In the Balearic Islands, with the holiday island of Mallorca, which is particularly popular with Germans, the orange alert primarily warned of high waves.